


Dying is easy, living is hard

by Khaylis



Series: Kintsugi Heart [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Anchors, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Follows 6B, Good Theo Raeken, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mating Bites, Nightmares, Pack Dynamics, Past Relationship(s), Protective Liam, Scenting, Self-Hatred, Slow Burn, Wolf Theo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-01-20 09:04:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 55,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12429510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khaylis/pseuds/Khaylis
Summary: Set at the end of season 6B.Theo keeps saving Liam, much to his own frustration and Liam's surprise, but this time he goes so far that neither of them can simply pretend there isn't more to it any longer. Theo is happy with the way things are and doesn't think he really deserves any better, but Liam is confused and needs to know why Theo is always helping him, even if his arrogant smirk makes him want to kill the asshole.Canon divergence - Liam gets shot at the hospital and Theo takes his pain. Gabe lives.





	1. Sacrifice

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, here goes... I have never written anything creative (at least not since my school days) let alone posted it for anyone to read. So yeah, this is kind of nerve-wracking for me. 
> 
> There is probably a lot of superfluous backstory to this for anyone familiar with the show but since the only people I let read this beforehand were friends who had never seen it, I had to give some ambient information for them to give me feedback. Hopefully I managed to work it into the story in a sort of organic way and it adds rather than subtracts from the entire work. (Also I have no idea how to tag this stuff so I just grabbed a bunch that I thought were sort of applicable)
> 
> So basically I am just testing the waters to see if I am absolutely terrible at this. Not expecting much, but thought I'd be bold for once. So yeah... here goes.

Theo hung up the phone with a frustrated huff. He didn’t know why he was surprised at this point. It seemed the only time Scott, or anyone really, willingly spoke to him was when their angry little beta needed his ass saved. His annoyance at, yet again, being ordered around so offhandedly quickly evaporated, though, at the thought of said wolf pup. That ball of barely bridled rage had gotten himself into trouble, again, and he needed Theo to save him, again. And for some reason, that brought a smile to his face, a real one, not his usual arrogant smirk. Someone needed Theo, a feeling he still wasn’t entirely accustomed to, but which felt strangely good.

His mind wandered as his body controlled his truck on auto-pilot. When had he started to think such things? Nobody had ever needed Theo before, and he was perfectly happy that way. He didn’t need anyone either. The only person you could rely on in life was yourself, and anyone who thought differently was weak. At least, that’s what he had believed. And where had it gotten him? A bunch of dead kids who might have been his friends and a one-way ticket to hell. At least, it would have been one-way, if not for Liam.

The impetuous young beta had made the choice to bring him back, against the objections of his friends and pack. Maybe that’s why Theo had stuck so close to him during the Ghost Rider invasion. He felt indebted to the boy and perhaps he wasn’t quite used to being alive again. That must have been why he was so foolish and put himself in danger to save the reckless kid. But he wouldn’t do that again, definitely.

The pack made it clear that he wasn’t welcome after the Ghost Riders were dealt with. And Liam certainly didn’t need him around, he had Mason and Corey… and Hayden. Scott could barely look at Theo, and he didn’t blame him, and he wished Malia wouldn’t look at him (she kinda terrified him). So he disappeared, insofar as he was able to in the small town.

And, for awhile, things were like they used to be. Theo was alone and didn’t need to think of anyone but himself. He had grown up with the Dread Doctors and never knew what family or friends were, at least not after he killed and/or abandoned his. He never knew what it meant to care about anyone or to have people wonder where you were or if you were all right. He was pretty sure none of the pack ever thought about him, so it irked him whenever thoughts of them would creep into his mind. Feeling anything at all was all too new for him, and regret was not something he found pleasant. Eventually, he got used to the silence of his own company again, and even the nightmares that plagued his sleep. It felt about right to him; this was the best he deserved.

But then things went south, as they were so prone to do in Beacon Hills. Weeks of sleeping in his truck, when the nightmares allowed him to, and being harassed by the police half a dozen times a night, had frayed his nerves and left him exposed. So when the hunters showed up, he was a tad unprepared. But he had a new lease on life, or what passed for a life in his books, and he wasn’t about to lose it again. So he managed a cunning escape, if he did say so himself, only to be hauled off to the sheriff’s jail. What annoyed him most about this was that he hadn’t actually done anything wrong (this time) and he even freed a few captive werewolves in the process. It’s not his fault they were wanted for murder, although it pretty much was his luck.

All this aside, things weren’t that bad. He wheedled his way out of that predicament too by getting the pair to admit their guilt and exculpate him. And he thought he would finally be able to escape this damn shit show, until he saw what was waiting for him in the front office. The scent hit him before he even got to the door, and he was surprised by how familiar it was, even after all this time. He found the source standing by the front windows of the sheriff’s office, staring out at the hunters surrounding the building. Liam. The rest of the pack was there too of course.

And just like that, things clicked back into place and it was as if he had never left. They all still hated him, and Liam was still reckless and angry and punching him at every opportunity. And Theo was horrified to discover that he was still doing things to protect the beta without even thinking about it – like offering to take the bodies of the ‘dead’ werewolves out to the hunters with Scott so that Liam wouldn’t have to put himself in danger, claiming that he was “expendable”, and Malia agreeing way too fervently.

But he found himself doing more than just putting himself in dangerous situations. He was always watching Liam, and whenever the younger wolf was about to make a really stupid decision, the older boy would give him a nudge in the right direction (not that he was one to give advice about right or wrong). In fact, it was Liam’s own moral compass that guided Theo. He just had to think, what would Liam do if it were Theo threatening to kill scared teenagers or letting hunters ambush him as a distraction. Of course, using Liam logic on Liam wouldn’t work, so the chimera instead redirected the beta’s anger at himself. He got his fair share of broken noses for his trouble, but Liam got to keep his soul, a luxury Theo knew he had lost long ago...

The next thing he knew, Theo was at the hospital. He was annoyed that whenever he felt lost, unsure what to do next, or scared (though he would never admit it), he found himself thinking about the boy who brought him back from hell. And, more annoyingly, he found himself worrying about him. But as much as this bothered him, he would be damned (even more so than he already was) if he let his saviour get hurt.

The elevator felt as though it wasn’t even moving. His head clamoured with the sound of gunshots, heavy breathing, racing hearts and a voice, but not the voice he wanted to be hearing. He strained to listen harder, to find the heartbeat that would settle his own. What flooded his senses, though, was that voice, and what it said made his blood run cold.

“Run. It’s more fun that way.”

The voice belonged to Gabe, and Theo knew who he was talking to. The heartbeat that usually put him at ease was instead causing his blood to boil; it was thumping dangerously loud as the elevator inexorably crawled the last mile-long millimetres to the third floor. Would he make it in time? Would Liam lose control and charge the hunters, or would he run? Theo knew what he would do in the same situation, and that made him worry even more because if there was one thing he could count on Liam to do, it was the exact opposite.

The doors opened in what seemed like slow motion. Theo saw the figures in the distance but they were nothing more than blurry silhouettes as his eyes focused all too sharply on the body closest to him. His own body moved before recognition had even sparked. His arms wrapped around the fiery blooded boy before him and pulled him behind the safety of the metal doors within the space of a single breath, ringing bullets deafening his ears to the angry protests.

“What are you doing here?” Liam grunted, angry but also… something else Theo couldn’t identify.

“Was just asking myself the same thing,” Theo lied, not as convincingly as he would have liked. He knew it was a lie because he had been asking himself that question for days, weeks, months. Every time he woke up in his truck, in some secluded park or a dingy alley, he wondered what the hell he was still doing in Beacon Hills.

True, he had nowhere else to go, no home, no job, and no qualifications. But were these reasons to stay or just excuses not to leave? His fear of the unknown paralysing him? He could handle the contempt of the pack, the harassment of the police, even the constant barrage of supernatural disasters that seemed to home in on the cursed town.

But out there, he would have to start anew. And he couldn’t trust himself not to repeat his mistakes. He knew he would only hurt more people and ruin more lives. He didn’t deserve the world and it didn’t deserve what he would do to it. Sometimes, he wished Liam hadn’t brought him back, that he could die for real this time. But he wasn’t about to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him give up. If nothing else, he was going to maintain the façade of the arrogant, selfish and ruthless jackass they all thought he was. He didn’t deserve their forgiveness and he didn’t want their pity.

“Look, I’m not dying for you,” he said at last. He said it so forcefully that he almost believed it himself. But it had the intended effect; Liam tensed up, standing taller to try to stare Theo down and that something else in his eyes quickly vanished.

“I’m not dying for you either,” the wolf replied quickly, blue eyes a storm of anger, although it was directed as much at Theo as it was at himself for allowing himself to believe that, maybe, the chimera was there because he actually gave a damn. But Theo was here, and whether or not he admitted it, that meant something. Slightly mollified, Liam finally added, “But I will fight with you.”

Theo’s face managed not to give away his surprise at Liam’s earnest declaration. Instead, he smirked that smirk of his, the one that made the beta’s fists ball up in an almost irrepressible desire to punch him. “Well, I could always sit back and watch you handle this alone if the idea of me helping you is so hard to stomach?” he scoffed.

The storm in that ocean of blue sparked wildly and Theo just smirked harder. However, he relented before the poor boy lost it and hit him for real. “But I didn’t bring any popcorn. So I guess I’ll have to settle for smashing a few heads to keep me entertained,” he offered, and the younger boy finally smiled, knowing that this was the best he was likely to get from the snarky chimera.

Side by side, claws extended and fangs exposed, the pair let out a roar as the elevator doors parted. The sound rocked the hall and unnerved the would-be hunters, causing their shots to fly wide as the superhuman teens darted towards them, bounding off wall and slashing at the weapons.

Theo couldn’t help but be impressed as Liam moved alongside him, keeping up with the older boy’s more experienced manoeuvres. His attacks, while wildly powerful, never aimed to cause grievous injury. Theo was equally surprised to realise he was also holding back, without needing to think about it. Perhaps Liam had rubbed off on him as much as he had on the younger wolf.

It was only after the pair had taken down the four larger men in the hallway that Liam realised something was wrong. He barely had time to warn Theo that Gabe was missing before the teenaged hunter was coming around the corner, semi-automatic in hand and levelled at the supernaturals. As it turned out, there was no need for the warning. Theo was always on high alert, his survival instincts honed to a level Liam could only hope to achieve (although as a result of experiences he prayed he would never have to endure).

Theo was already moving to shove Liam down behind a gurney as the gun started to expel its lethal contents. But as fast as his reactions were, Theo wasn’t prepared for Liam to try the same tactic to protect him too. The two crashed into each other, spinning as they fell to the floor. The chimera didn’t let his surprise addle his senses though (there would be time to consider Liam’s actions later), and he quickly rolled them behind cover as the bullets continued flying just overhead.

Theo felt oddly warm as he lifted his body off the smaller boy’s. He started to get flustered before realising the heat was not coming from within him. Reaching down, his fingers met with sickeningly wet warmth. Blood. His panic, however, rapidly transformed into rage as he realised it was not his own, but belonged to the all-too-quiet body beneath him. His rage, mixed with the natural instincts of a cornered animal, caused Theo to act rashly (something he had stopped Liam from doing all too often of late). The irony of this was totally lost on the now feral chimera as bloodrage spurred him to charge the well-armed, but thankfully poorly trained, hunter.

The boy, too terrified now to truly be called a hunter, was quickly disarmed by the lethally efficient beast set upon him. Claws effortlessly rent the weapon in two and the taller boy was sent careening into a wall, breathlessly crumpling to the floor. But the beast within Theo was not satisfied. Clawed fingers encircled the fragile throat of the gasping human and applied pressure as his body was lifted by inhuman strength. Gabe knew it was over when his eyes, bloodshot from hypoxia, met the emotionless glowing yellow eyes of his killer.

But where he expected to hear the sickening crunch of his windpipe collapsing upon itself he instead heard the voice of a guardian angel. Or at least that’s what it seemed like to him. “Stop,” the voice whispered, barely audible to his ears. But to the ears of the wild animal holding his life in its hands, the whisper was deafening. The grip faltered and the yellow eyes turned away to meet their matching set, in the panicked face of the young werewolf watching in horror.

“Please stop Theo,” Liam whispered out between gasping breaths. His hands were pressed to his bloodied body although the flow was already being stemmed by his accelerated healing and his voice was gaining in strength. “You’ve come so far, don’t go back to the way you were,” the beta pleaded, eyes watering with what Theo assumed was pain.

Gabe fell unceremoniously to the floor as Theo crossed the distance between them and Liam in a flash. Theo’s hands were on Liam; his wounds, his arm, his neck, his face. They stopped there and his golden eyes bore into Liam’s own. They were wide, with surprise and that same something that Theo had seen in the elevator. Suddenly realising what he was doing, Theo quickly lowered his hands and calmed his features. Liam just smiled gently and said, “I’m ok Theo. It looks like Gabe didn’t put wolf's bane in his bullets. Dunno why though.”

Theo scrunched his nose in anger; he knew why. It was something he would have done, not so very long again. Gabe didn’t want to just kill them, he wanted them to suffer as much as possible. Normal bullets would get the job done; it would just take a lot of them. Theo growled at this realisation and at the reminder of what he once was. His growl turned into a snarl as he heard footsteps approaching from down the hall.

But his tension rapidly melted away to be replaced by his trademark stoicism as Mason and Corey rounded the bend and stopped in their tracks, seeing Theo leaning over Liam, closely. Sensing their surprise, the chimera quickly backed away and stood up. Looking down at the injured boy with what he hoped appeared more like disdain than what he really felt. “Well come on then, you’re barely hurt at all. Get up,” he said harshly.

Taken aback by this sudden change, Liam just sat on the cold floor looking confused and then switching to his own default, angry. The older boy’s sudden mood swings were starting to get to the werewolf and he was about to give him a piece of his mind when a hand was suddenly thrust towards him. Looking up he noticed Theo was pointedly not looking at him. An exasperated huff escaped Liam’ mouth as his scowl shifted to a slight smile and he reach out to take the proffered assistance.

Theo was trying his best to school his features; the proximity to Liam, the lingering concern over his well-being and the presence of the lovebirds watching them (Theo just knew they were going to be gossiping about this later) making it difficult for him to do so. He felt pressure on his hand but as he hefted the beta to his feet, fire leapt up his arm. The werehybrid looked down in horror, convinced his arm was somehow being scorched. Instead, he saw darkening veins, and he wasn’t the only one. Mason gasped, and Theo could still hear his words echoing in his memory: “You can’t take pain if you don’t care.”

Theo’s keen sense for self-preservation was pushed to the background as he was overwhelmed by this new sensation of putting someone else’s needs before his own. The realisation that he could take someone’s pain (no, he corrected himself, not just anyone’s) clouded his mind like a drug. Senses addled by the combination of these thoughts and this new sensation, Theo didn’t hear the approaching footsteps or the heart beating fast, fuelled by fear, adrenaline and bloodlust. What he did hear, though, was the safety go off.

It happened so fast that nobody could really remember the order in which everything transpired. The hunter had the sub-machine gun aimed directly at the beta (knowing Monroe wanted him dead above all else). Mason was shouting for them to get down, to run, to somehow escape this clearly hopeless situation. Liam was still too wounded for his supernatural reflexes to save him this time. Corey was already moving, but he was too far away from the hunter and he wasn’t as fast as those with predator DNA (but his bravery was impressive nonetheless).

And Theo was still in a state of shock – from taking pain for the first time (yes that’s why; it had nothing to do with his emotions pulling him in every which way, like a kid let loose for the first time in a candy store, desperate to experience every new taste but not knowing where to begin). He looked dumbly upon the hunter, unable to take his hand from Liam’s. He turned his head back towards Liam and time froze.

The old Theo would’ve taken this time to strategise, to connive a way to come out of this unscathed, even if it meant everyone else died in the process. There was no way Theo could reach the hunter in time to stop him and it was foolish to hope that he had followed Gabe’s sadistic example and not filled his bullets with wolf's bane. Only two other options remained and Theo’s body knew his decision before his mind (quick and cunning as it was) could catch up.

Dark blue eyes, filled with determination, met their lighter counterparts. The mirth had drained from Liam’s eyes but there was no time for fear or anger to muddy those pristine waters as Theo’s face filled his vision, obscuring the hunter completely behind his muscular frame. He had that arrogant smirk on his face again, a mask designed to make everyone think he was in control, but for once, his eyes betrayed him.

Realisation gripped Liam like a vice of arctic steel. His mouth opened to emit the scream of fear, of rage, of pure desperation, but Theo heard none of it. He didn’t hear the gun go off, nor the sickeningly organic sound of skin and tissue being torn asunder by merciless lead. He didn’t hear Mason’s cries or the sound of Corey barrelling into the hunter and dispatching him with uncharacteristic brutality. He didn’t hear Melissa arrive or the gasp of horror from Nolan, trailing behind her, as he witnessed what fear had led his classmate and former hunting brothers to do.

No, Theo heard nothing but an arrogant voice, filling his mind with a single, sardonic accusation. “You’re a liar Theo Raeken…” And he couldn’t help but marvel at how the world closed in on the face before him, darkness consuming all but those two pale moons filling the night of his existence with their light.

But even they eventually blinked out as his body collapsed under the weight of countless bullets. Wolf's bane was being pumped through his veins by a stolen heart hungry for vengeance. And then, all was silent and dark, and his fading hope was that he would not be cursed to live through the torment of his personal hell again. But if he must… at least this time it was worth it.


	2. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo ISN'T dead YAY, but he was grievously injured while saving Liam's life in the final fight with the hunters. The chimera manages to pull through, thanks to some help from Melissa and Deaton, but is still in a sorry state in the ICU. Confused and more than a little guilty, the young beta is determined to stay by Theo's side until he wakes up so that he can find out what the hell man?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my first chapter was at least moderately well-received, so I am not totally discouraged from continuing *self-deprecating chuckle of terror*. I am doing my best to think of what I want to happen next and will try to get more done asap but it may take awhile - a lot of this chapter was already formulated before I even published the first.
> 
> Thanks for all the hits and the kudos and the guys (and gals) who took the time to write me a comment. Hope I manage to inspire further comments and even feedback and hope some of my feels are coming through in my writing, I know I am a bit too much of a fan of angsty introspection haha.
> 
> Ok stick a fork in me. It's not a crazy long chapter but hope it is a good read for ya'll :)

Liam awoke with a start, to the sounds that had become unpleasantly familiar to him these last few days. They were the whimpers of fear, the grunts of pain and the whispered supplications for mercy. As he reached out and settled his hand upon that of the suffering boy’s, he was still surprised at how it calmed him down. He never even suspected the sheer amount of suffering that Theo kept bottled up inside, and couldn’t help but be shocked and a bit ashamed when he first witnessed this unguarded display.

Theo was always so cocky and sure of himself, and lying came to him as easily as breathing. But in his fitful slumber, he could no longer hide the truth, although only Liam had seen it since he had not left the wounded chimera’s side.

It had been chaos trying to get the hospital back in order. There were so many wounded, and sadly more than a few dead. Luckily, Nurse Melissa McCall was a force to be reckoned with, and the other nurses and doctors, who had until just recently been betraying their oaths and hunting supernaturals, quickly fell in line when she started shouting orders. Being what passed for an expert on the supernaturals, she set up an area specifically devoted to their care, not yet willing to mix them with the humans who were still skittish, even though the Anuk-Ite had been destroyed and the fear and paranoia it induced had been dissipated.

Theo had undergone extensive surgery to remove the bullets that had riddled his body. He was then put into a private room in the supernatural ICU and Liam took up residence there, refusing to be removed by nurses or orderlies who quickly scampered away at the sight of glowing golden eyes. This was five days ago, and the young beta had not left his room, which thankfully had a private bathroom. The other members of the pack stopped by from time to time, Scott more frequently than anyone else. And Lydia or Mason would bring him food and a change of clothing at regular intervals, leaving with barely a word and only a look of sympathetic understanding. But Liam never let them see Theo, knowing that the proud chimera would be mortified to be seen in such a weak and pathetic state.

The young werewolf was still having trouble understanding his feelings about what happened. One second he would be worried about the boy breathing shallowly in the bed; the next he would be angry that he had been so reckless; then he would feel guilty for what Theo had done for him and also for how little he truly knew the chimera. This guilt was only further compounded when Scott had moved Theo’s car to more secured parking and made the discovery that he had been living in it.

Nobody had really cared what the big bad chimera had been getting up to since the Ghost Rider incident. In fact, Liam had half hoped he had left town for good. But when they had been reunited at the sheriff’s office, the short-tempered beta didn’t even think to ask where Theo had been. Instead, he was punching the jerk in the face and wishing he had never brought him back from hell. And said jerk didn’t say a thing about it; he was still cocky and sarcastic, acting all superior, especially towards Liam. After all this time, Theo was still a huge mystery and the younger boy was only now wishing he had made more of an effort to solve it.

“Please… please Tara, don’t…” the quiet whisper snapped Liam out of his thoughts to the present and the frustrating young man now lying before him, helpless and afraid in the dark world behind his eyelids. The beta gently applied some pressure to the hand under his, but Theo’s nightmare wasn’t going to be dispelled that easily this time. “I’m sorry, please I’m so sorry!” the whispered pleas continued.

If he could take the tormented chimera’s pain, he would, but this was something Liam couldn’t cure with supernatural powers; this would take something a little more human, and it still made him uncomfortable to have to be so gentle with the guy whose nose he had broken on several occasions, all too recently.

Liam slowly lifted himself from the chair he had pulled beside Theo’s bed, muscles crying out in shock at being used so suddenly after so long without exercise. He moved closer to Theo, hand still on hand, and considered how he would ease the young man’s distress. More thankful than usual that he was totally alone with the former emotional terrorist, Liam leaned over the bed. He lifted his other hand and swept the hair from the chimera’s face, the lack of any styling products in it just another reminder of how Theo’s defences were totally down, and rested his open palm upon the whimpering boy’s neck. The beta leaned in close to the chimera’s ear and gently reassured him, “Theo, it’s ok. You’re not in hell; you’re safe now and I’m here with you. You’re never going back there, I promise! So please, don’t be afraid.”

Whether he heard the words or it was simply the sound of Liam’s voice, Theo grew silent. His face relaxed from its grimace and his heartbeat slowed down. The young werewolf sighed softly and began to move toward the bathroom to wash his face and brush his teeth, but he was stopped by a gentle yet firm pressure on his hand. Looking down curiously, he was surprised to find that Theo had laced his fingers around his own and was holding his hand gently, yet it was clear he didn’t want to let go. Liam felt a strange tightness in his chest and a sudden impulse to tear his hand away – was Theo awake? Had he heard what Liam said? What would he think of him touching him like that? – but he calmed down when he listened to the chimera’s heartbeat and confirmed that he was still deeply asleep.

Moment of sudden crisis averted, the beta permitted himself a smile and the tightness in his chest turned to warmth as he sat back down and allowed his hand to return the gentle pressure being applied to it. His mind began to drift as he stared at the two entwined hands, slowly rotating them as his piercing blues eyes examined them both. Thoughts of how soft and warm Theo’s hand was flitted through his head.

These weren’t the hands of a killer were they? Is that how he still saw Theo? If so, why did he feel so safe alone here with him, incapacitated or not? Safe – why was the first place his mind went to at the thought of that concept Theo? It should be the pack, or Scott. Scott… What would he say if he could hear these thoughts now?

Liam’s thoughts were becoming progressively more frantic; it felt like he was being pounded upon by wave after wave of emotion: compassion and uncertainty and confusion and anger and fear. He could feel himself being swept away, yet somehow he wasn’t wolfing out like he normally would in this situation. Why not? He looked down at his hand with a combination of curiosity and horror. This couldn’t be possible… He thought back feverishly to all the times over the past few weeks he had felt the shift coming on and why he hadn’t gone through with it.

Since Hayden had left, he had been having a lot more trouble controlling himself. Mason had even had to chain him up on full moons to keep him from hurting anyone. Every day had been a struggle. He was angry and confused and lonely. He had invested so much in the relationship and thought they would always be together. How childish he had been… and now he felt as though a part of him was missing. No, that’s how he had felt. Lately, he had been feeling other things. He was still often angry but now it wasn’t some uncontrolled rage.

The moment he saw the arrogant, too perfectly dressed and styled chimera at the police station, he had been furious. Nobody should look that good after getting out of jail. He shook himself. No, that isn’t what he was angry about he convinced himself. The cocky bastard had just been smirking at him, like he did when he took Hayden from him – but to be fair, he also brought her back – and the time he had convinced the angry beta to almost kill Scott. Yes, he had done that and so many other terrible things, Liam tried to remind himself. But as much as he tried to remember the reasons to hate Theo, thoughts of all the times Theo had helped him seemed to flood his mind and wash away the bad.

The chimera had truly shocked Liam at the hospital when he shoved the young wolf into the elevator and charged the horde of Ghost Riders alone – being the bait he called it. Even with that amazing display of selflessness, Liam had managed to get cornered by yet more riders. Somehow, that cocky asshole had managed to survive a much larger group of riders and still came to the beta’s rescue yet again. After all that, had Liam even thanked him? No, he just let him disappear after the pack basically dismissed his contributions and even his existence. Liam felt like a total piece of shit.

Then the hunters had attacked the police station. And while Theo had enraged Liam by his mere presence to the point that the angry beta had knocked the chimera on his ass, he had stepped in when Liam attacked Nolan. And that was not the only time the older boy had stopped the younger from doing something stupid. He had intervened when Liam was tempted to kill Gabe in the locker room and again when the enraged boy had completely lost control at the zoo and almost killed Nolan.

Every time the werewolf was about to lose control, Theo was there. He wasn’t supportive, definitely not. He didn’t try to calm Liam down, but he managed to redirect his anger. And being angry at Theo was kind of comfortable, at least that’s what the beta thought. Maybe it was more than that, and maybe it wasn’t all anger. And, at the end of the day, isn’t that what an anchor is, something that keeps you from losing control? It didn’t have to be something that made you happy or even something you cared about. That’s what he kept telling himself, while he looked down at his hand unconsciously caressing the sleeping chimera’s.

So Theo was his anchor, he grudgingly admitted. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world – after all, he was a reformed homicidal maniac. He wanted to tell himself that, but the words were hollow. No, Theo had never been that, as much as he may have pretended to be. What he was, was a boy who had been taken advantage of, experimented on, twisted and made to do things that made Liam’s stomach churn. The young beta probably would have just let the Dread Doctors dispose of him as yet another failure, but the chimera was determined to live and Liam realised the truth to what Theo had told him the day he had been brought back from hell, “I just want to live.”

Theo was a fighter, he always had been. And his guard was always up because feeling anything was a weakness that could get you killed. This had been his life for so long that he had forgotten how to feel, and right and wrong had become just a greyish blur to him. But he had been awakened from that nightmare with a far worse one – Liam sometimes wished he knew what had happened to the older boy in hell, but if the nightmares Theo had been having the past five days were any indication, he was kind of happy he didn’t know. Since the chimera’s resurrection, Liam had seen glimpses of what he could have been if only his life had been different. There were moments of kindness (although thickly overlaid with sarcasm and jackassery) and also selflessness. His present predicament was proof of that.

Theo was so much more than Liam had ever thought, or ever allowed himself to think, he realised. It was all too easy to hate him, to wish he were gone or even dead. What was hard was accepting that he was here and that he wanted him to stay because he wanted desperately to know the person underneath all the pain and the lies and the self-loathing.

Liam blinked a few times, felt something wet slide down his cheek and was swiftly drawn back to the world outside his head. He was crying… for Theo. It was almost ridiculous. If the pack saw him now they would think he had gone mad. And that’s where all this had started wasn’t it? He was scared of what the pack would think if they knew he cared, truly cared, for the chimera. He had admitted it to himself at last, but he wasn’t yet ready for them to know, to hear their judgements and see their disappointed faces. He could lie to them a little longer, but he had stopped lying to himself. And, at last, he knew what he had to do next. Now he just had to wait for the annoying pain in his ass to wake up.

It was only then that he noticed that Theo’s breathing had changed and that his heartbeat had sped up, considerably. Liam looked up quickly and his sky blue eyes met the surprised azure ones looking at him from a face tilted quizzically towards him. The older boy’s hand hadn’t left his own yet, although the pressure he had felt earlier was gone now.

Surprised, relieved, confused, embarrassed and annoyed, Liam couldn’t think of anything remotely intelligent to say so he just said, “Hey.”

Theo’s face broke into a smile, the first genuine one Liam could remember having seen, and the young wolf knew how he truly felt in this moment. Happy.


	3. Reservations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo wakes up to Liam holding his hand and a strange look in his eyes. But before the young werewolf can open his heart to the chimera, they are interrupted and Theo's guard is raised in the blink of an eye.
> 
> Confused and angry, Liam decides he won't get anywhere with the older boy unless he takes matters into his own hands. And so he comes up with a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter might not be the hard-hitting feels everyone was hoping for but I decided the story needs a bit of fluff between all the angst. I hope my character representation feels realistic as this is the first time I am trying real dialogue. Enjoy and let me know what you think while I get started on more ;)

“Hey,” Theo’s long-unused voice cracked softly, after what seemed like an eternity to Liam but which was actually just a couple of seconds. The young wolf had so many uncomfortable thoughts swimming through his head, like a hundred eels crammed into a tiny fish tank. There were things he needed to tell the chimera, and a hundred more things he wanted to ask him. But looking into those deep blue eyes, staring back at him almost expectantly, the beta was rendered speechless.

Theo watched the younger boy in front of him as his mouth opened and closed a few times, heart beating a mile a minute with skin reddening slightly, before realising he was still holding the little wolf’s hand and that it was alarmingly warm. The older boy pulled his hand away and tried to lift himself into a sitting position, wanting to look (and feel) less vulnerable than he was. Liam moved to stop him, but Theo’s expression made it clear that that was a poor idea.

“You shouldn’t…” the young beta began, but was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door, which was shortly opened to reveal Melissa. She entered, a bit distracted, looking down at Theo’s chart in her hand.

“Morning Liam, how is he doing today?” she began as she walked into the room, but her warm, relaxed tone quickly changed as she looked up to see that her patient was awake and moving. “Oh, Theo, you’re awake? How are you feeling? Are you in any discomfort?” her questions rolled out in rapid fire as she moved towards the bed and began fussing over the boy with clinical efficiency, but also surprising tenderness.

Theo tensed as he looked at the mother of the boy he had killed, even if only temporarily. He wanted to crawl away from her, not so much out of fear (although mama McCall was a formidable woman) but rather out of shame. After all the pain he knew he had caused Melissa, here she was treating him as professionally as she would any patient. He deserved her contempt not her care.

The chimera would have answered her questions but he didn’t trust his voice to not give away his feelings, or worse, to not sound like his usual cynical and ungrateful self.

Luckily, Liam came to the rescue, “He just woke up Ms McCall. He doesn’t seem to be in any physical pain, although I was gonna tell him he should probably not be getting up just yet. But he didn’t sleep so well.” The chimera was surprised by the genuine compassion he could sense emanating from Liam, both through his scent and the sound of his voice. However, this only served to exacerbate his feelings of shame under the nurse’s gaze.

“Liam, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Melissa?” the woman huffed with a gentle smile directed at the young werewolf. He looked down at his feet shyly as she turned back towards the bed, brown eyes warm with amusement meeting trepidation-filled blue eyes. “You gave us quite a scare there Theo, but I am glad you’re finally awake,” Melissa affirmed, her eyes proving the authenticity of her concern.

The emotionally scarred chimera could only stare dumbfounded at the woman gently hovering over him. The mild-hearted way she teased Liam, the concerned way she looked down at Theo – he had to wonder if this is what it was like to be cared for by a parent. The Dread Doctors had raised him, if one could call that being a parent, but they were nothing like this. They weren’t even doctors but rather insane scientists who didn’t care what kind of pain they put their experiments through.

He could feel the lump in his throat threatening to come loose and expose him for the weak and scared boy he really was, but the part of him that had grown cold and hard was still strong enough to spare him such humiliation. The motherly concern of Melissa and Liam’s sky blue eyes shining with earnest compassion – it was all too much and Theo knew it was wrong. He had acted without even thinking about it and he didn’t deserve their thanks for instinct. That same instinct had pushed him to hurt people and earned him the contempt of everyone around him – that was all he would ever deserve.

The roiling ocean of emotions in his deep blue eyes iced over as he finally pulled himself together and his face took up its trademark sardonic expression. “I’m fine. This is hardly the first time I have been brought to the brink of death, but it would take more than this to kill me,” he proclaimed arrogantly enough for the worried nurse and werewolf to be taken aback.

“Yes, well it is hard to imagine anyone wanting to kill such a charming individual as yourself,” Melissa jeered. “Still, you were pretty banged up. If you were a normal shapeshifter, all that wolf's bane in your system would have killed you for sure. I guess being a marvel of science rather than nature has its advantages,” she conceded, with her hand reaching for Theo’s wrist to check his vitals as she unwound the stethoscope from around her neck.

Liam stood at the foot of the bed watching as the nurse went through the motions, but they both knew the chimera had recovered physically and, by the looks of it, his award-winning personality had survived the ordeal too. Watching the way Theo shifted so quickly to the jackass he had grown to despise, the young beta was once again confused. Was he wrong to think there was more to the older boy, or was lying just so natural to him that he could so easily hide himself behind a collection of all-too-lifelike masks?

Liam wanted time to figure out how he truly felt and, more importantly, to get to know the good Theo he was convinced was buried under all that cynicism and pride. The chimera had taken his pain; that had to mean he cared and it wasn’t something he could lie about. The young beta just needed time to wear down Theo’s ridiculously thick walls and that’s when he came up with his plan.

“Um, Melissa is it cool if I call Scott and the others and let them know Theo is awake and ready for visitors?” the short werewolf asked, and he had to stop himself from cracking up as Theo’s mask dropped for a moment to reveal his sheer terror at the idea of having the others see him trapped in bed in a ridiculous hospital gown.

“Hmmmm?” Melissa mused as she lost count of Theo’s suddenly spiking heart rate, “Oh yes, that should be fine Liam. I am sure they will be relieved to know he’s awake. Scott’s been nagging me every night about how Theo is doing.” She smiled at the look of confusion on Theo’s face as Liam backed out of the room, phone already in hand.

“No, wait Liam,” the panicked chimera began, but he was firmly pushed back into his pillows by Melissa, who gave him a stern, no-nonsense look that utterly quashed his unvoiced objections. He let out a loud huff of exasperation, which quickly turned into a surprised gasp as the nurse put the cold stethoscope to his chest. She chuckled as she listened to his rapid breathing. “Can I at least put on my own clothes?” the young man asked. And, upon being met with a pretty deadpan expression from her, he added, “Pleeeease?”

Melissa looked into that all-too-angelic face and suddenly understood how Theo was able to get anything he wanted, and she wondered if he realised how much he had already gotten from the young man who had just stepped outside. She let out a laugh of pure delight at his distress and relented at last, “Sure. Scott got your duffel of clothes from your car when we admitted you and I had them laundered. There are a few things hanging up in the closet over there.” She had barely finished her sentence before the skittish chimera was across the room like a bolt of lightning, digging through the closet to find something that would make him look less pathetic.

Meanwhile, Liam had just gotten off the phone with Scott and was busy dialling Mason.

“Liam, hey!” the pack’s token human almost shouted into the werewolf’s ear, clearly having forgotten how sensitive his hearing was.

“Hey Mase,” Liam replied in an almost whisper as he moved further away from Theo’s room, hoping to get out of the chimera’s enhanced earshot. “Just calling to let you and Corey know that Theo finally woke up. Melissa is busy checking him out but she said he can have visitors.”

“That’s great man! So is he fully recovered, or is he still a giant jackass?” Mason joked, but Liam could hear the genuine relief in his best friend’s voice.

“Sadly, I think that is a chronic condition,” the beta piled on with a smile. “I’m not sure if you guys would be super keen to see him but…” he began to add, only to be interrupted.

“Of course we want to see him!” interjected the usually shy but now impassioned voice of Corey, and Liam realised he was on speakerphone.

“Thanks Corey,” Liam said, feeling his chest tighten at the realisation that he wasn’t the only one that had started to care about Theo. “I really appreciate the support you guys have given me, and Theo, over the past few days. It means a lot.” And he was suddenly really glad this conversation was happening over the phone, so that the unusually perceptive couple couldn’t see his face and realise just how much he was feeling right now. As the young lovers began to babble incoherently into the phone at the same time, Liam barked a laugh and found just enough of an opening to add, “Hey, would it be okay if I had a quick word with just Mason?”

There was a bit of a scuffle as the phone was picked up and taken off speakerphone while Mason was clearly moving somewhere, and Liam couldn’t help but smile when he heard the human warning his chimera boyfriend not to eavesdrop with his crazy bat ears or to invisibly sneak up on him. After a short delay, Mason finally broke the silence that Liam hadn’t realised had become somewhat tense for him, “What’s up Liam?”

“I’m really glad you guys wanna come visit Mase, cos I need to ask you a favour,” the beta began, his tension still high as he worried what his best friend might read into his request.

“Sure man, anything you need,” his friend assured him confidently, and Liam was again reminded just how lucky he was to have his pack and his amazing friends who were always so willing to help out. All the same, he wasn’t ready to come clean about the revelation he experienced while Theo was sleeping, and he felt bad hiding a part of himself from them, especially from Mason.

“Thanks. I just need you to come spend some time with Theo. You and Corey both. I need to go home and speak to my parents. I haven’t seen them in like five days and they are still freaked out after the whole town went mad,” Liam explained, while also realising for the first time the magnitude of the task before him if he wanted his plan to work. “My dad has some sort of idea, obviously, since he works at the hospital, but my mom is another story.”

“So does that mean you’re going to tell them… everything?” his best friend and confidante asked him, the anxiety in his voice undeniably clear.

“I think I have to,” Liam admitted to himself as much as to Mason. “After everything that has happened and the fact that I haven’t been home in five days, I don’t think I can spin some silly story like we used to.”

“So you want Corey and me to keep an eye on Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome while you deal with your parents and make sure he doesn’t bolt?” Mason suggested, and Liam was glad his friend was always so insightful and understanding, although his choice of words was a bit alarming – mostly because they were way too similar to his own thoughts.

“Um, yeah. Kinda. Although I don’t know if I would use those exact words,” the usually passionate young man said with uncharacteristic reservation.

“What words would that be exactly?” asked the human, and Liam could’ve sworn he could hear him smiling.

“Tall, dark and… handsome,” the supernatural boy admitted after a pregnant pause.

“Well the dude is hot; I can hardly deny that,” Mason quipped with amusement.

“Are you being serious or are you just checking if Corey is eavesdropping on you?” Liam asked, trying his best to sound disinterested. A small part of him felt annoyed that Mason found Theo attractive, or was it something else he was feeling?

“Yes,” his friend answered cryptically, much to Liam’s chagrin.

“Dude, just please get down here quick so I can go see my parents. And if you let him run away, I will hold you personally responsible,” the young werewolf mock-threatened his best friend. “This won’t be like last time,” he added emphatically, but didn’t give Mason time to respond as he hung up and mentally prepared himself for what he had to do.

As he was getting ready to head home, Liam saw Scott arrive and felt secure in the knowledge that Theo would still be there when he got back. He had to be.


	4. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo is forced to deal with the pack in a way he is totally not accustomed to and it frustrates him to no end. Meanwhile, Liam has gone home to confront his parents with some things about himself he wished he would never have to admit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went a bit 'little shop of horrors' on me, so it took me a while to get it all polished and ready, Trying to keep my notes shorter so... hope you all enjoy!

Theo longed for the sweet release of death. This was torture, plain and simple. Hell seemed like a vacation by comparison. He grimaced and struggled and begged and pleaded… but they just wouldn’t leave him alone. One after another they plagued him – the blasted pack and their disingenuous smiles and hollow praise.

First was Scott, always with that annoying lopsided grin of his so full of warmth and the naïve conviction that everyone was essentially good. Soon after him, Malia and Stiles arrived. As always, the werecoyote never stopped glaring at Theo, but he could have sworn that the corners of her mouth twitched upwards from time to time when she thought he wasn’t looking. As for the human, he had reached new levels of annoying, as truly impossible as that seemed. The chimera was subjected to a seemingly endless and excruciatingly detailed account of how Stupidinski had saved the day by defeating the Anuk-Ite. No seriously, the medical books Theo had perused while he was with the Dread Doctors were less convoluted and more interesting.

Then there were the baby-faced lovebirds, whose sickeningly sweet romantic antics felt almost like a personal insult to the loner chimera. They were relatively quiet but they had stayed the longest, which made the guarded young man even more suspicious. After Stiles and Malia left, the banshee arrived along with the two werewolves from London Theo hadn’t met. They introduced themselves as Jackson and Ethan but they didn’t say much, leaving Lydia to pick up the slack. She was friendly enough, but she had always kind of creeped Theo out with the whole talking to dead people thing – he already knew exactly what they wanted to say, and do, to him. 

Melissa popped in from time to time and even Deaton made an appearance. While the chimera’s body had recovered from the physical trauma of the bullet wounds, his system was still getting over the severe dose of wolf's bane and he would remain in a weakened state for a few weeks, according to the druid. Theo didn’t really care about any of this, or the barrage of fake camaraderie and concern from the pack. He just wanted to get out of here, away from all their friendly faces, warm smiles and comforting words.

When Theo had first been brought back by Liam, he would have eagerly joined the pack, if they would have allowed it. But as he spent more time back in the world of the living, first around the people who so clearly hated him, and later alone in his truck with only the terrors of his soul for company, the chimera realised just how impossible it was to ever be one of them. There was no place for someone as broken as him in this pack – this family. They all cared so much and were able to be good without even thinking about what they stood to gain from helping others. If he still had a heart of his own, it would ache at the undeniable fact that he was simply too far gone to ever fit in.

These feelings were only further compounded by the all-too-noticeable absence of Liam. It seemed that the young werewolf had bolted at the first opportunity, and Theo didn’t blame him. The shorter boy was so utterly good and kind that simply being around the evil chimera probably made him feel dirty. Theo just wanted to get this charade over with so that he could get away from all this fake praise and be left to the truth – that he was, and always would be, alone on the outside looking in.

But even after everyone else had left, even Scott and his mother, Mason and Corey remained. They tried to keep some sort of conversation going, no matter how hard the dark, brooding teen tried to silence and shoo them away. They barely even bit at his sardonic barbs and even blatant rudeness towards them. They were clearly up to something, but it didn’t matter; Theo was done trying to be diplomatic.

“Okay, I think that’s enough mushy crap for one day. It’s time I got out of here. Where are the keys for my truck?” he demanded, glaring towards the couple, but not deigning to look either in the eye.

Corey shuffled his feet somewhat nervously while Mason answered, “Your keys? Oh… um… well I’m not entirely sure. Perhaps one of the nurses has them or something. Or Scott, yeah maybe Scott has them. He moved your truck didn’t he? I’m sure someone told me he did.”

Theo squinted his eyes at the younger boys. Corey was always quiet but he seemed even more so than usual, although that could just be his usual fear of the older chimera. He had been uncomfortable around Theo even when he was part of the chimera pack. But Mason was normally quite cool and collected, even when he was angry at the guy his best friend had brought back from the dead. However, the quick-witted boy was now rambling and Theo could hear that he wasn’t being honest, even if his senses weren’t at their peak.

“Why are you lying to me?” the chimera cut into the human’s babbling. Mason visibly tensed but his face did its best to remain relaxed. He failed miserably and Theo was almost tempted to smile at the sorry display, but it had been a long day and he had little patience left. “Give me my keys,” he added, stressing each word menacingly.

Corey let out a small yelp and disappeared from view as he cloaked himself. Mason tried to stand up taller as the imposing chimera loomed over him and it was almost admirable how he stood his ground. “Theo, I don’t think you should be driving anywhere right now, or even leaving the hospital. You heard what Deaton said; you haven’t fully recovered yet. Don’t you think it would be better to hang around a bit longer?” the mocha-skinned boy tried to reason.

“I am more than capable of taking care of myself, with or without my powers, as anyone who gets in my way will find out,” the blue-eyed hybrid declared ominously. “So tell your cute little boyfriend to phase back and give me my keys. I know he has them.” Mason’s eyes jerked involuntarily towards the wall near the door and Theo knew his gamble had paid off.

As the chimera moved towards the wall, the young human piped up desperately, “Theo wait. Please don’t leave yet. The town… not everything is back to normal just yet. There could still be people sympathetic to Monroe out there. They might know you’re not well and you might get hurt. I know you’re strong but you’re also smart. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just stay here where the pack can protect you?”

Theo turned around sharply and Mason almost jumped back when he saw the fierce look in the much larger boy’s now-glowing eyes. “Protect me? You people?” the chimera spat. “Why the hell should I trust you? None of you give a crap about me. I don’t even know why you are even here! Why don’t you all just do what Liam did and leave me alone? I don’t need any of you and it’s obvious that you don’t want me around; you have all made that very clear in the past and some pretty words today won’t change the truth.”

The young human could only stare, mouth agape, at the angry chimera. Theo was an asshole and he was often cruel, but Mason had never seen him truly angry before. But as he stared dumbstruck at the taller boy, panting at the unexpected physical exertion his emotional outburst had caused, Mason realised Theo wasn’t just angry. His eyes seemed to quiver and it was clear that he was in pain, suffering from wounds none of them could see. Well, almost none of them. Mason wondered if this had something to do with why Liam had refused to leave the chimera’s side, and why he was being so secretive lately.

Before the human could answer, not that he had any idea what to say, there was a startlingly soft reply from near the door, and he realised it wasn’t Corey.

“You’re wrong. We do care Theo.” Mason let out a sigh of relief as that all-too-familiar voice broke the tension, and Theo’s anger visibly dissipated to be replaced by surprise and confusion. Both boys turned to see Liam standing in the doorway, with a sheepish looking Corey grinning nervously next to him.

**A few hours earlier**

Liam sat silently, trying to fight the urge to look away in shame and fear. His mother was crying and his step-father was silently staring at him with an indecipherable expression. It had taken him a while to get through the whole story of what had happened since Scott first bit him, and he had left quite a few details out – this was going to be hard enough on his parents without giving them even more reasons to be horrified. They hadn’t believed him at first, but the more he told them in that earnest voice of his, the more things clicked into place for them with all the strange events that had been happening in town and their eyes became wider and their faces paled noticeably. As he ended his recount, they had little choice but to accept that what he told them was the truth.

Each tear falling from his mother’s cheeks felt like a dagger straight to his heart and the young man wanted desperately to reach out and hug her but he was too scared that she would pull away out of fear or disgust. His animal instincts were on edge because, in every sense but the literal, this was a life or death situation. His life as he knew it could very well end this day, within the next few moments. It took all his willpower to remain there, to not run away or to lose control and wolf out. But he did neither of those things because the reason he was doing this was Theo, and that thought alone kept him grounded.

The silence dragged on and Liam could feel his heart beating faster and faster. In the silence, it was deafening, and it wasn’t until his step-father broke that silence that the werewolf realised he had been holding his breath, his body letting out an involuntary gasp as it tried to get the much-needed oxygen. “Liam…” the stern man his mother had remarried began, “this… this is a lot to take in Liam.”

“I know,” was all the boy said. His step-father had never been anything but polite to him, but Liam still didn’t feel extremely close to him. He couldn’t bring himself to totally trust him after the hell his biological father had put his mother and him through. The short-tempered boy was always so worried he would say or do something that would make the man angry and that he would then decide it wasn’t worth the trouble and abandon his mom. He looked over to the still-crying woman and he didn’t want to imagine what that would do to her. He would sooner run away from home than see her so lonely and depressed again like she was after the divorce.

Dr Geyer followed Liam’s gaze and looked at his wife, quietly sobbing, and seemed to know what his step-son was probably thinking. His voice was soft and level as he began to speak again, “Your mother isn’t crying because she is angry at you Liam. She isn’t disappointed in you either, neither of us are. But we are scared – not of you, because we know you are still our Liam, but rather for you.”

The blue-eyed boy looked back at his step-father in confusion. He didn’t know what to say but the older man could easily read his always honest and expressive eyes. “Liam… there is only one thing any parent truly wants from life, and that is to know that their child is happy and safe. And while it is in no way your fault at all, we have always worried about you more than the average parent does. Because of your IED.” Liam flinched at the mention of his condition and felt guilt begin to rise up his chest and into his throat like flaming bile.

But as the boy began to open his mouth, his step-father held up his hand and continued speaking. “No Liam, your IED is not your fault, but it has meant that we worry more about you than most parents. But we are happy to do it because we care about you. We love you son. And now we know that your life will be even harder than we imagined and we are scared because we also know that there isn’t anything we can do to make it easier for you. All we want is to protect you and give you a life that will make you happy, and when we can’t, we get frustrated, angry and sad. Not at you, but at our own powerlessness. That is why your mother is crying.”

Liam looked back over at his mother, who had now stopped sobbing uncontrollably and was trying her best to look at her son through the haze of tears. He realised she was holding her husband’s hand so hard her knuckles were white. Her reddened eyes showed what he could smell in the air and hear in both their heartbeats. His father meant every word and she felt the same way. At last he did look away, down at his hands, knowing there were vicious looking claws just beneath the surface – the embodiment of the dangerous rage that seethed within him all the time. And he began to tremble.

He felt the arms of his parents wrap around him and his muscles began to relax. As the tension released from his wound up body, tears he hadn’t realised he was holding back began to flow freely. This was his mom… and his dad… and they loved him even when he wasn’t what they had hoped he would be. He was so lucky, and he knew others were not so fortunate. And that is why he was here – for someone who had never known the kind of love that he was blessed with.

“Mom…” the emotional beta began, then looked over at the man he had always been aloof with out of fear of being rejected. He had always simply referred to Dr Geyer as ‘sir’, but now he tentatively said, “Dad… I know this isn’t what you wanted for any of us and it will be hard for you to completely accept these changes. But I…” he faltered, but their eyes never left his and their heartbeats never wavered, so he pressed on, “I have to ask even more of you, and it has to do with why I’ve been gone for the last week. I have a friend, an important friend, who was hurt badly. I needed to be there for him because he has no one else. He’s like me… and he has his problems, even more than me,” Liam chuckled slightly at the understatement, “but he needs me right now, even if he won’t admit it. And I can’t help him without your support.”

It took some time for Liam to explain to his parents who Theo was, although he left a lot out… like a whole lot – there was no reason to give them heart attacks so soon after they had just recovered from the nuclear werewolf bombshell. But when they saw how absolutely important their son’s plea was to him, they could not turn him down. They truly were amazing people.

**Now**

Theo recovered from his shock as quickly as Liam had come to expect and he gave the kind of response the shorter boy was getting used to, “What are you doing back here? You know, it’s probably not healthy to be so obsessed with a selfish sociopath. Isn’t that what you call me?” The chimera was sneering at him, but the younger boy was determined to not get angry this time, although his claws were itching to come out.

“I also said I wasn’t going to leave you,” Liam replied without hesitation, before realising that the older boy was unconscious at the time he made that promise. Theo’s face scrunched up in confusion in a way that was almost adorable. Liam’s own face scrunched up a little as that thought crossed his mind but he quickly shook it from his head as he continued, “Well I’m glad you are ready to leave. My parents are looking forward to meeting you. I already have your keys; grab your stuff and let’s get going.”

“What the…” the taller boy began, but the beta was already walking out of the room. The chimera was so confused he had completely forgotten his earlier anger and could not muster the energy to get angry again. Instead, he looked to Mason, who simply shrugged with a dopey grin on his face. With no other recourse, Theo quickly grabbed his duffel bag of clothing from the closet and ran after Liam, who was already stepping onto the elevator.

“Liam what are you…” the chimera began, but yet again he was interrupted by the young wolf, who had to suppress the urge to smile as he heard the older boy’s heart rate spike in frustration.

“Kinda weird how much time we seem to spend in this place isn’t it?” the werewolf said looking out on the hospital floor as the doors closed. “And in this elevator for that matter. Seems a lot of big things in our life happen here,” he added, not letting Theo build up any momentum to protest the way Liam was steamrolling his attempts to speak.

This distraction seemed to work better than the shorter boy thought as his companion appeared to get lost in thought. The chimera couldn’t help but agree that a lot of big things happened in this hospital. He had saved Liam here on several occasions, but it was also the form his hell took when we was trapped in the hole. It was where his heart – no it wasn’t his, he reminded himself – was ripped from his chest. But it was also where he lost it in a much more worrying way.

He had never known anyone as brave and selfless as the young werewolf beside him and he knew that what he was thinking now was a complete waste of time. No one could ever want the mass of black sin that passed for his true heart.

He was brought out of this reverie by the faint jingle of keys hitting the floor and looked over at Liam, who was grinning at him with those beautiful eyes full of barely suppressed laughter. “Wake up there sleeping beauty,” he giggled. Theo looked down at his truck keys on the pavement. He didn’t even remember leaving the hospital; his body had followed the werewolf like a lost puppy while he was stuck in his own head.

“I don’t drive remember?” the beta added, shaking his head slowly in amused exasperation.

“Liam what…” and this time Theo really almost lost it as he watched the short boy slip into the passenger side of his truck and close the door mid-sentence. The chimera gritted his teeth and quickly tossed his bag in the back seat before climbing into the driver’s seat. But instead of starting the truck, he looked over at the young wolf, his eyes fiery as he demanded, “Liam what’s your game?”

The sky-blue-eyed boy looked at him innocently, “What do you mean?”

His own azure eyes were anything but their usually icy calm as Theo growled, “Why did you say your parents are looking forward to meeting me, and why do you think I have any intention of driving you anywhere?”

“Oh that,” the younger boy said with mischievous innocence. “You’re staying at my place,” he added with unequivocal aplomb.

The chimera just sat in absolute silence, mouth hanging open slightly. Liam would have laughed at this but luckily he got distracted. Unluckily, what distracted him were Theo’s lips, slightly parted and looking so soft and full. Both boys were staring at each other awkwardly for seconds that dragged into eternity. As the older boy finally closed his mouth, Liam was snapped out of his mesmerising daydream and quickly spoke before Theo had the chance.

“So drive already. My mom’s making dinner and she hates when people are late,” the beta said flippantly. He was already looking out the window and fidgeting as though he was bored, although the truth is that he was bristling with anxiety, which he did his best to hide from the taller boy whose supersenses were still dulled. He prayed Theo would just drive and stop asking questions, because he honestly didn’t know how he would answer and that scared him as much as the idea of the older boy leaving again.

The chimera slowly slipped the keys into the ignition and started the truck. He didn’t understand the young man next to him at all, and trying to do so was giving him a headache. He also realised he was hungry and the idea of a free dinner wasn’t at all unappealing. So he drove. The car was silent, apart from the occasional directions Liam was giving him, and soon they were parked outside a pretty nice-looking house. Theo hadn’t realised the young beta was so well off, and he was surprised to realise that he took a sort of pleasure in learning things about the annoying brat.

“You coming?” the werewolf asked with unusual gentleness and Theo saw that he was leaning against the open door looking at him with his head tilted slightly, like an expectant puppy. The chimera smiled involuntarily but quickly turned it into a smirk when he realised what he was doing.

“So I have a choice?” Theo asked with a raised eyebrow, not because he intended to drive off but because he knew it would annoy the little wolf.

Liam’s face deadpanned immediately and he gave a surprisingly firm, “No.” And then he was moving off towards the front door.

The older boy just grinned as he got out of his truck. He looked at the bag on the back seat for a moment before deciding to leave it there. He didn’t plan on staying, regardless of what the younger boy had planned. Instead, he grabbed one of his trademark hoodies from the bag and headed to the house as he zipped it up over his muscular frame.

Liam was waiting for him by the door and frowned when he noticed Theo hadn’t brought his duffel, but he didn’t comment. He wasn’t going to let the chimera run away again, but he also wasn’t going to make him feel liked a caged animal.

“Before we go in, I guess you should know that my parents have a different name to me. Long story,” the beta said, waving away the unvoiced question. “My step-dad is Dr Geyer and my mom is Mrs Geyer.”

“Okay.” The chimera replied and, although he wouldn’t admit it, he began to accept that he wanted to know the younger man better, since it was clear he knew very little about his life. “And don’t worry, I’ll be on my best behaviour,” Theo added with a frighteningly sincere-looking smile.

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Liam muttered with a look that clearly said he wouldn’t believe it even then. He reached out to turn the door handle and warm light seeped out into the darkening evening air. “Mom, dad, we’re home!”


	5. Inception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo meets Liam's parents and has to make a difficult decision. In doing so, things get a little... intense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, and the not-so-long chapter. Month end is hell haha. I wanted to write more and had several ideas for this chapter but the dinner scene just got so involved so quickly that I decided to make it a chapter in its own right. Hope it's an enjoyable, if somewhat brief read!

Dinner was… awkward. Dr and Mrs Geyer were friendly but they seemed unsure of exactly what to say to their guest. And Liam wasn’t much help either; after the introductions, he had been oddly quiet. And every time Theo looked over to him for help, the younger boy just smiled that goofy, cute, light-hearted smile of his, as if there was nothing unusual going on at all.

Eventually Liam’s father broke the silence, “So how are you feeling Theo? Liam told us you had a bit of a close call recently. If I’d known you were at the hospital perhaps I could have lent a hand in your recovery.”

The chimera was not entirely certain how to respond. Surely Liam hadn’t told them the truth? No, the younger boy would never have blown his cover so carelessly. Deciding to play it safe, Theo leaned back on a lifetime of experience lying and convincingly said, “Oh, yeah, I am doing all right now. Just the meds I was prescribed are a bit strong, which is why Liam seems overly worried about me, even though I keep telling him I am fine.” The older boy gave the little wolf a pointed look, which basically said “you better do something before this gets out of hand”.

But instead of Liam piping up to back up Theo’s lie, Mrs Geyer interjected, “Really? What medication do doctors prescribe for wolf's bane poisoning?” She had an oddly knowing smile on her face too, which belied the ignorance of the supernatural that the older boy had been expecting.

Theo froze. He was totally blindsided and had no idea where to look or what to say. The short werewolf watched with almost perverse satisfaction as the chimera’s heart rate spiked and his breathing went shallow. Theo could only sputter and flounder for some sort of lie, but he was not on top of his game tonight – too many strange things had happened today already and he just wanted to crawl into bed and die of embarrassment. Then he remembered he didn’t have a bed, and the idea of sleeping in his truck after actually getting a few days of semi-comfortable rest at the hospital seemed more unappealing than usual.

Liam was smiling maniacally as his one-time nemesis flailed hopelessly under the unfamiliar blaze of parental scrutiny, but he eventually decided to take pity on the young man, even though he looked utterly adorable when his guard was broken and his true self was revealed. Yet again, the beta was disconcerted by his own thoughts, which were subconsciously labelling Theo with adjectives other than diabolical or asinine. But he quickly brushed this aside as he came to the older boy’s rescue and bailed him out of his lie.

“Theo, my parents know what really happened. They know about everything… I told them this afternoon before I fetched you from the hospital,” Liam said with an odd mix of amusement and anxiety. The all-too-recent changes in his life had clearly left him still a bit unsure of where exactly things stood with his family but he was trying to stay positive. All this became clear to the chimera as he absorbed this information and the expression on the werewolf’s face.

To say Theo was surprised would be an understatement of biblical proportions. While he did not know a great deal about Liam’s life, he did know that the younger man had kept his other life – the one that the chimera was an unwelcome part of – hidden from all but his best friend. The revelation that the beta had opened up to his parents shocked the chimera, until he realised why Liam had finally come clean. Then his shock turned to a mix of gratitude and guilt. The young beta could never have brought Theo into his home without first bringing his parents into the loop.

This realisation was further compounded by the knowledge of what Liam had been willing to risk for the older boy’s sake. Melissa McCall had become almost part of the pact because she accepted and supported her son’s place in the supernatural world, but not all parents were as understanding. Sheriff Stilinski had taken a great deal of convincing and still didn’t really like knowing too much about what was going on in the town’s secret world. Lydia’s mother had put her own daughter into the Eichen House mental asylum when her powers had begun to manifest. And Malia? She had accidentally killed her adoptive mother and sister when her powers awakened and was, in turn, hunted by her adoptive father.

There were far more stories of sorrow and pain when the supernatural world was revealed than ones of acceptance and love – the ordeal with the Anuk-Ite and Monroe being just the most recent example of this. Yet, despite this, Liam had told his parents everything – well maybe not everything Theo reconsidered, or else they would never have let the murderous chimera into their home – and he had done it because he wanted to give the older boy a safe place to recover. He wasn’t lying at the hospital when he had said that he cared. In light of this, the chimera’s lack of gratitude and his plan to leave without even telling the beta made him feel the emotion he had grown to despise. Shame.

Looking at Liam, and that annoyingly caring smile of his, with this new understanding made Theo hate himself even more. He was so rotten to the core that he couldn’t even imagine someone doing something so utterly selfless and good. The young wolf was so amazing, and the black-hearted chimera didn’t deserve to be a part of his life, let alone be graced with his kindness and affection. Theo just looked down, not trusting himself to speak now that his emotions were so raw. Luckily, Mrs Geyer didn’t seem to expect a reply from him.

“It’s quite all right Theo. I know you were only lying to protect Liam’s secret. That just goes to prove that you are a good boy and care about our son, which only makes us that much happier to give you all the support you need to get better,” the short woman said with such conviction that Theo was worried the ground would open up to swallow him for allowing such a monumental perversion of the truth to go uncorrected. He was anything but good; but if that was the case, why did he care about lying to Liam’s parents?

He tried to convince himself that it was simply because lying was his native tongue, and it had nothing to do with protecting the beta’s secret. But he wasn’t such a good liar that he could convince someone as cynical as himself. He knew how he really felt about the beautiful werewolf.

Still looking down, eyes trying to bore into hell where he knew he belonged, Theo could only mutter a soft, “Thank you.” Then he felt something that brought him barrelling back to reality. Someone was holding his hand under the table, and it felt extremely familiar, almost natural. He looked up sharply and his deep blue eyes met the lighter ones staring at him with nothing but genuine compassion. He wanted to pull his hand away, but it felt so good to have that warmth gently squeezing his trembling hand that he allowed himself to selfishly enjoy it.

“Liam clearly cares a great deal about you Theo. He was so adamant that you come to stay with us. It was really quite adorable, and we couldn’t say no. And now that you are here, I am glad we didn’t. You seem like a very nice young man, albeit a little too serious. I’m sure you’d look even more handsome with a smile on your face; so if there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask. We really want you to feel at home here,” the chipper woman added.

Theo almost did smile then, when he noticed the colour rising in Liam’s face as his mother embarrassed him with the revelation of how badly he wanted the older boy to stay with him. But, yet again, the chimera chose instead to smirk rather than show his genuine appreciation. “Oh really? So five days straight by my side wasn’t enough?” he asked in that cocky way that infuriated the beta. And the older boy slightly regretted acting like an ass when he felt the hand pull away from his as Liam let out a huff of annoyance. But he knew it was for the best.

Liam’s parents just chuckled warmly at their son’s reddening cheeks and Theo couldn’t help but enjoy the familial atmosphere that permeated the air around the dinner table. This was a feeling he had forgotten so long ago, and it felt kind of nice to experience it again. Feeling a bit bad that he had made the usually open and expressive shorter boy clam up with embarrassment, the chimera added, “Do you mind if I go to my truck quickly? I accidentally left my bag behind. I guess I was just too distracted by your beautiful home, and if I don’t fetch it now, I might be too full to move after this amazing dinner you have given me.” Theo put on his best parent-impressing smile, but it became a genuine one when he saw the way the sulking beta suddenly perked up.

Theo headed outside alone and, as he stood beside his truck, looking in the back window at his duffel, he couldn’t help but think to himself that now would be the perfect time to leave. He knew that he would be doing Liam a favour by removing himself from the pure-hearted boy’s life. Maybe it was his own selfishness, or maybe it was the feelings he tried so hard to suppress winning out, but the chimera opened the back door and grabbed his bag, heading back into the house before he could talk himself out of this clearly stupid decision.

The short beta was waiting by the door and looked up with relief when Theo entered. He had forced himself not to run out after the chimera, to make sure he didn’t leave. He knew this was a defining moment and he just had to trust that the older boy wouldn’t leave without saying something. His heart was racing and he was thankful that Theo couldn't hear it. Who would have thought Liam would be happy that the asshole had been poisoned by so much wolf's bane.

“Um,” the handsome young beta began shyly. “My mom said I should show you to your room so you can hang up any clothing that might get too wrinkled in your bag. You know how moms are,” he added with a good-natured eye roll. It wasn’t a lie, but Theo could sense that the shorter boy wasn’t saying everything on his mind. Liam was bristling with nervous energy and the chimera couldn’t help but smile. The young wolf looked so much better when he wasn’t sulking, although even that was kind of cute, the older boy admitted.

Liam led Theo up the stairs and down a short hallway to a pair of doors. He opened the door to the left, revealing a modest-sized room, decorated in neutral earthy tones, with a single bed, a desk with an overhead shelf, and a small closet. It was clearly a guest room but it was still very pleasant and welcoming – far more than the chimera had been expecting. He stepped forward and placed his bag on the desk, unzipping it. He began taking out his clothing as the blue-eyed werewolf quietly observed him.

“I know it’s not much…” Liam said self-deprecatingly. But before he could make any excuses or downplay what he had done for the older boy, Theo interrupted him.

“It’s perfect Liam,” he said, turning to look at the younger boy who was wringing his hands nervously. And then the chimera said something Liam had honestly never expected to hear from him, and he said it with unshakable sincerity, “Thank you.”

The werewolf’s smile was immediate and infectious. Theo couldn’t help but smile back without any hint of his usual mocking smirk. “My room is, um, right next door so I hope my snoring doesn’t keep you up,” the beta joked. “And we’ll be sharing a bathroom; I hope that’s ok?”

The muscular, dark-haired boy moved towards Liam and rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder, which was tense but relaxed a little bit as their eyes met. “Liam, stop acting like you’ve done something wrong when you’ve done more for me than I deserve,” Theo said solemnly. His eyes were warm but the beta could see a deeper sadness within them. The closeness to the taller boy and the look in his eyes like he wanted Liam to do something, or perhaps was holding back something he wanted to say, confused the werewolf.

There was a drawn out moment of silence as the world seemed to fade away but for the two young men standing painfully close to one another, bodies almost touching as they breathed the exact same oxygen and warmed the air around them with the heat radiating off of them. Liam felt strangely weak, as he was drawn in by the dark ocean in Theo’s eyes. But he was thrown a lifeline in the form of his mother yelling, in typical mom fashion, from the dining room, “Boys, I hope you’re not rough-housing up there while your dinner is getting cold!”

The two young men quickly took a step away from each other and the older let out a self-conscious cough as he spoke, “Erm, we had better get back to your parents. I don’t want them to think I’m ungrateful or, worse, that I don’t like your mom’s cooking.” He laughed softly and Liam was surprised at how melodious the sound was as opposed to Theo’s usual evil chuckle, which had its own sinister charm he admitted.

Luckily, the laugh and his mother’s yelling distracted the beta from the look that now consumed the chimera’s deep blue eyes. Fear. And as Theo darted past Liam and headed down the stairs, apologising as he re-seated himself at the table, the only thought running through his head was: _That was too close_.

Dinner wrapped up without further interruption, and although Theo offered to help clear up or do the dishes, Liam’s mom insisted he relax and get comfortable in "his new home". The way she said it made the chimera feel strangely warm and he had to force himself not to get too comfortable with the idea. Sooner or later, Liam would come to his senses and tell the no-good asshole to get out of his life. But it was nice to pretend, if only for a moment.

After their strange interaction in the bedroom, the beta had been very quiet and seemed to be avoiding looking at the older boy. Theo just accepted it as a natural reaction; it was wrong for him to want Liam to be so close to him. But as the young werewolf said goodnight and closed his door, the chimera was just barely able to hear what he said under his breath from behind the door, “Please don’t be gone when I wake up.”

Theo felt a tightness in his chest, not just because he could no longer deny that Liam really did care, but because a small part of his mind had been whispering to him non-stop to get out now before things could go bad. But the larger part of him didn’t want to let the younger boy down. Liam had risked everything for him, and the chimera owed him this much at least.

As he lay down on the soft bed, almost scared to crease the sheets, Theo strained to hear the beta in his room, but his hearing was still too weak. And he suddenly felt alone again, a feeling he was extremely accustomed to. But, for the first time since he could remember, he had to remind himself that he wasn’t alone anymore. At least for now.


	6. Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo and Liam have been living together for a few days and are getting used to being around each other. A moment of relaxed bantering leads to deeper discoveries. But Liam's mom has a surprise for the two boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it seems my last chapter wasn't particularly popular based on the (lack of) feedback, so I can't say I was super motivated for this one. Still I tried and hopefully this is a bit more impactful >_>

It had been a few days since Theo had moved in, and things seemed to be going pretty well, as far as Liam could tell. His parents had really taken a shine to the older boy who was charming, quiet and neat – basically the complete opposite of the beta. He was kind of enjoying seeing the chimera being nice, even if he was sure it was all just an act. Sure, Theo had done the ‘nice’ act before, but this time he had no evil ulterior motives. However, his smiles never seemed to reach his eyes and the werewolf couldn’t shake the feeling that the older boy was only half-there at any given time.

Liam had already missed several days of school but his parents had allowed him to take off the Thursday and Friday before the weekend, both so they could have some quality time with him and also so he could help Theo get settled in. And while he never thought it would be possible, the shorter boy had really enjoyed spending so much time with the chimera.

After that rather weird moment the two shared in Theo’s room on the first night, Liam had expected things between them to be awkward. But, the taller boy seemed to have totally forgotten about it and was his usual mysteriously confident self. If only the young wolf could forget as easily… He kept finding himself unconsciously watching the chimera.

Rather than brooding in his room as Liam had expected, the enigmatic young man seemed to take up residence wherever the beta was. No matter what the werewolf was doing, Theo always seemed to be a few feet away. Lounging on his bed, spinning lazily in the chair at his desk or sitting on the kitchen counter – he was a constant distraction. But while he couldn’t quite put his finger on why, Liam liked having the chimera nearby.

In a frighteningly short amount of time, he had grown totally accustomed to having the older boy around, almost like it was the most natural thing in the world. When he was jamming some Call of Duty, he would hold out the spare controller without even thinking about it. And Theo would decimate him without even seeming to try. Then, when he inevitably threw his controller down in frustration, Liam would hear that rich laughter that always sent his anger scurrying away like a scolded puppy and he would look up into that roguishly smiling face. It was moments like this that made him truly happy that the chimera had agreed to stay with him.

Mason and Corey had stopped by a couple of times since he last saw them at the hospital and the four of them would play video games or the occasional board game, but Theo never seemed to be as into it as when it was just him and Liam. Scott also popped in once, luckily without Malia or Stiles tagging along to antagonise the chimera. But for the most part, everyone seemed to be giving the two young men space to adjust to their new cohabitation.

It was on Sunday afternoon when things got a bit strange again. The two boys were lying on Liam’s bed with a laptop between them. While Theo had been destroying the young beta, yet again, at Marvel vs Capcom the previous night, it had come to light that the older boy had never seen any of the Marvel movies currently taking the world by storm. Finding this an unforgiveable sin, the young werewolf had decided that Sunday was going to be a comic book movie bingefest.

“I can’t believe you don’t know Doctor Strange or Captain America,” Liam said with a mock-condescending look on his face as they just finished watching the final instalment in the Captain America series and were about to start on Doctor Strange. It wasn’t often that he had an advantage over the chimera in anything and he was milking this sense of superiority for all it was worth.

“Of course I know who they are dumbass,” Theo scoffed back. “I probably know more about them than you do if all you have to go on is these cheap Hollywood knockoffs. I just haven’t seen these movies, which don’t do the comics justice just by the way.” His unflappable calm was infuriating the beta as per usual.

“Really? Did the Dread Doctors have an extensive comic book collection down there in the sewers?” the werewolf asked incredulously, without really thinking about what he was saying.

“You know, I was a normal kid before I was taken by the Dread Doctors,” the older boy replied solemnly, and Liam could see a slightly haunted look come over the young man’s handsome face. These kinds of thoughts were also starting to bug him less and less as they cropped up in his mind more and more. They still confused him, but he knew that trying to understand Theo was more important than dealing with his own apparent insanity right now.

“Yeah, I guess I sometimes forget that you weren’t always… well, you know,” the shorter boy began, but faltered when he realised where that line of thought was taking him. He felt guilty immediately but he didn’t apologise because he had decided that the only way to truly get to know the real Theo was to be honest with him. The older boy had not shown any signs of his usual evasiveness when talking about himself yet, so maybe this was as good a time as any.

“A murderous sociopath?” the chimera offered with an almost hollow voice, but there was no malice in it. It was more like he was checking to see if Liam disagreed with this assessment, even though he had heard the beta call him that almost verbatim more than once.

“No,” the blue-eyed wolf said a bit more forcefully than he intended. “You did bad things Theo, there is no denying that. But that doesn’t make you evil, and I am sorry for the times I ever called you that,” he looked at the expressionless face before him, hoping that the older boy believed what he was saying without the surety of hearing his heartbeat. “You were just… hurting. I wish I could’ve known you back then. Maybe we could have been friends, not that I was particularly popular with my crappy anger issues,” the beta said sadly, before looking deep into those azure eyes. “But I’d like to know you now,” he added earnestly.

Theo’s expression never altered but he eventually looked away and Liam wished he could tell what was going through the quiet boy’s mind. His heartbeat was always steady and his scent… well that just confused him. The beta had never really noticed how the chimera smelled because his own anger and nervousness always permeated the air whenever he was around. Now that he had gotten comfortable with being around him, he found that the only thing the older boy’s scent told him was that he smelled good. He couldn’t read his emotions through it and had to rely on those brief moments when Theo’s guard faltered and his eyes showed his truth.

The silence lingered and Liam had to do everything is his power not to break it with some silly comment or an invasive question. Eventually, his patience paid off as Theo said, “I was a nerdy kid. I didn’t have any friends for a long time and even my own family barely paid me any attention. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my sister – at least I think I did – but I was also jealous of her. When she was around, my parents barely even noticed me. She was the perfect daughter and I… I was just a disappointment as a son. I wasn’t strong, I couldn’t play sport because I was sick all the time and I was always crying because nobody liked me.” He was still looking down and the younger boy wished he could be looking into those eyes he got lost in so often when the chimera was laughing at him after thrashing him in some game. He wanted to know this side of Theo too, even if it was painful to see.

“It took me a while but, eventually, I made friends with Scott and Stiles. And it was really nice,” the older boy continued, “but even then, I didn’t quite fit in. Scott and Stiles were already like brothers back then – so in sync. And me? I was like the weird cousin that they sort of got along with but mostly just tolerated.” Eventually, he did look up and the ocean of sadness framed by those dark lashes took Liam’s breath away.

“I would have been lucky to know someone as kind as you,” he just barely whispered. The werewolf could feel a lump forming in his throat and he wanted so badly to reach out and hug the beautifully raw Theo in front of him. But he was afraid that if he made any movement, the chimera’s alarms would go off and he would shut himself in again. So he waited in torturous silence for the solemn young man to continue.

“Stiles was always a big personality and back then Scott just kinda followed his lead. Stiles loved sci-fi and they would often have star wars movie nights or the outer limits, if they could get away with it,” he laughed sadly. “I liked that stuff too, but more than that, I loved comic books. People like Captain America or the X-Men – I wished I could be strong like them, cool and popular. I would escape into those worlds where people who were different had the power to change the world and didn’t just suffer helplessly.”

Liam was hypnotised by the tightly-controlled, steady rhythm of Theo’s voice. He didn’t dare speak for fear that it would break the spell that had been cast over the two of them, separating them from the real world – the world that had hurt the chimera so badly.

“Whenever I wasn’t with the two of them, which was more often than I would have liked, I had my nose buried in some comic book, imagining what my life might be like if I had that kind of power. At first I wanted to be the hero, the Captain America or Wolverine of my own story. But as time went by, I realised I would have been happy just to be the Red Skull or Mr Sinister – anyone with the power to take control of their own destiny, to make others notice them. So when some strange men came and told me that I could have everything my sister had… that I could be strong…” the chimera looked down again, breaking the spell his eyes had cast over Liam.

The werewolf finally spoke, realising that Theo had said perhaps more than he had intended and was now trying to get his emotions under control again. “The Dread Doctors took advantage of you,” he began, but the chimera looked up again sharply, and Liam realised just how vulnerable he must have felt in that moment because his eyes were glowing brightly.

“That doesn’t excuse what I did!” the older boy said vehemently, albeit barely more than a whisper.

“Theo…” the beta tried to begin again, but the older boy seemed to know what he was going to say and cut him off.

“No Liam, the Dread Doctors could never have turned me into what I am if there wasn’t something fundamentally evil in me. I am too broken,” Theo’s voice was devoid of emotion as though he were stating clinical facts. His trembling hands were the only thing that betrayed his true feelings. He stared down at them as though they were covered in fresh blood.

“You are not evil Theo. I know you’re not because I…” Liam stopped abruptly, shocked by what his mouth had been about to say. Instead, he lowered his voice and said, “I have seen you be good Theo. And not only when it was in your best interest. You can’t pretend what happened at the hospital wasn’t real.”

“You can’t understand Liam,” the chimera softly whispered in defeat. “You think you know evil but you can never truly understand it because you are good. Too good.” It seemed as though he was going to say more but he pursed his lips tightly, holding back whatever it may have been.

The werewolf blinked a few times in surprise, but then he got annoyed. “I know what evil is Theo. You think I am all rainbows and sunshine, but I have darkness in me and you’ve seen it.”

“You lose your temper sometimes Liam, it’s not the same thing,” the older boy tried to reason as he looked up, but his reasoning faltered when he saw the look in the beta’s eyes.

“I don’t lose my temper. You think I just get angry sometimes, but the truth is that I am always angry. Even when I am laughing and having fun I can feel it inside me, sometimes deeper down but always there,” the shorter teen explained through gritted teeth, his fangs starting to emerge.     

“Your IED,” Theo said softly. “Hayden told me about it… But that is an illness Liam, it doesn’t make you evil,” he added with conviction, as though he could never accept the fact that the werewolf was anything but perfect.

“Illnesses can be cured Theo. And becoming a werewolf should have made me immune to it, but it only made it worse. You’ve studied us extensively so you know that the bite enhances everything that we are – good and bad. And it made my anger worse, which means that this darkness is a part of who I am and I have to live with that. I have to accept that I have darkness in me, but that doesn’t mean I am broken or that I am destined to be evil. But perhaps if I had met the Dread Doctors before Scott found me,” Liam speculated but the taller boy cut him off.

“No Liam, don’t ever think that you could have turned out like me,” he grabbed the beta's shoulder forcefully and the younger teen could feel the tips of claws on his skin. He hadn’t realised how upset this would make Theo and he just wished he could make the tortured young man see his point of view.

“Theo, I am just saying none of us know what we would do in a situation like what you experienced – not until we are truly faced with it, and maybe we were wrong to be so unwilling to forgive you.” Liam tried to reason.

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness Liam, and I will never ask for it. I just want to live, and try not to make the same mistakes with the second chance you gave me,” the chimera said with a sense of finality.

The beta wanted to argue but he knew that Theo wasn’t ready to change his mind. So instead he just said with a soothing voice, “I hope one day you will be able see yourself as I see you now.”

Theo simply gave him a sad smile, which transformed seamlessly into his usual pleasant demeanour as there was a knock at the door. It opened slightly as Mrs Geyer asked in the most embarrassing mom-voice, “Are you boys decent?”

“Mom!” Liam shouted in horror, “what exactly do you think we do in here?”

“Oh I don’t know, but boys will be boys,” she said in her best sagely tone, as though that answered the question. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that dinner is almost ready and that you two can’t stay up too late tonight. It’s school in the morning.”

The young wolf just moaned but the older boy let out a surprised, “What?”

“Oh I suppose I forgot to tell you,” Liam’s mom mused nonchalantly. “I have been spending some time with Melissa McCall – you know, learning the mom-of-a-werewolf tools of the trade – and she told me that you boys are all friends with Lydia Martin, you know Principal Martin’s daughter?”

“Yes mom, we are well aware of who she is. Is there a point to this story?” Liam exhaled in exasperation.

“Don’t be snippy young man,” she chided him automatically, but without any real feeling to it. “Anyway, between the two of us, we managed to convince her to talk to her mom about getting Theo back into school. There will be an early introductory course for summer school so that he can hopefully graduate a bit early next year, after missing so much of this year,” she explained cheerfully, clearly not noticing (or just plain ignoring) the growing look of horror on the chimera’s face.

“Mrs Geyer, that was very considerate of you but,” he began, but this was hardly her first rodeo with a stubborn young man and she steam-rolled his objection with ruthless efficiency.

“Now now, none of that young man. No boy living under my roof is going to be sent out into the world without a proper education,” she declared with such maternal authority that something deep down in Theo’s DNA seemed to demand that he do as he was told. He just sat there with a look of utter defeat upon his face as she beamed at him, proud in the knowledge that she was securing his future for him.

As she left, Liam turned to try to console his handsome friend but stopped when he saw the look of frozen terror on his face. There was no saving him now it seemed – he was in a parent-induced shock coma. Instead, he just put the movie back on and lay back beside his mute bedmate, smiling softly to himself. Maybe a bit of normal teenager life is exactly what Theo needed to stop seeing himself as a monster and start trying to live again.

The poor chimera eventually recovered enough to go downstairs for dinner but he was unusually quiet during the meal. Luckily, his guardian wolf came to his rescue and intercepted his parents any time they tried to engage the older boy in conversation. The rest of the evening went by rather quickly after that and the boys turned in for the night.

“It’s gonna be ok man, just give it a shot,” Liam said as he saw Theo off at the door to his bedroom. The tall, muscular boy just nodded solemnly as he closed the door and headed to bed.

The beta was a little worried that this unexpected bombshell might freak the chimera out and cause him to do something rash, so he stayed up listening intently in on the room beside his own. He didn’t like invading the werehybrid’s privacy but he couldn’t risk losing him, not when he was finally making progress getting to know him – the real him.

Liam stayed up deep into the night, ears always focused on Theo. What he eventually heard was not what he had been worried about but it was equally distressing. It was the whimpers and moans he had hoped he wouldn’t have to hear again after the hospital. The chimera was having nightmares again.

As per usual, he was gasping in pain and begging his sister to stop. Stop what exactly, the werewolf didn’t know, but he hoped one day he would get the older boy to open up about that too. The sounds eventually died down, but as Liam was preparing to go to sleep himself, he heard a strangled cry. He bolted upright and focused again on Theo.

He was awake now and breathing heavily. After a few moments, the beta heard footsteps and the sound of water running.

While the chimera was in the bathroom, Liam took the opportunity to check in on his room and was hit by an overpowering scent of fear and anguish. It hadn’t been this bad at the hospital, and he was overcome with a sense of guilt when he surmised that this was his fault. He had made Theo talk about his past and his family. He made him remember all the things that caused him pain and led him to do the cruel things he now regretted so fervently.

The young werewolf wanted so badly to take away the older boy’s pain. He thought back to how he had comforted him at the hospital but quickly dismissed that idea – he could hardly offer to hold Theo’s hand without the guy threatening to kill him. No, he needed a more subtle way to help. Then he had an idea.

Before Theo could come back from cleaning up – and Liam had to actively try not to picture the muscular boy covered in sweat from night terrors – the young wolf darted into his bedroom and grabbed the top pillow off his bed. He quickly snuck back into the chimera’s room and replaced the bottom pillow with his own before slipping back into his room, a bit breathless after his tense life-or-death mission.

As he lay down on Theo’s pillow, the scent of terror slowly dissipating to reveal the pure smell underneath, he could only hope it would be enough to calm his friend down. And he hoped, even more fervently, that it would not lead to an awkward conversation in the morning.

He heard the chimera return to his room, and the sounds of springs compressing as he climbed into bed. If he noticed that Liam had switched the pillows, he made no discernible fuss about it, and within the next ten minutes he was sleeping again. The werewolf listened to Theo’s heartbeat. It was slow and steady, and without meaning to, he fell asleep listening to the heart that had grown slightly closer to his that day.


	7. Elucidation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Theo head back to school. One of them is more excited by the idea than the other. 
> 
> Theo meets someone unexpected during lunch and Liam doesn't realise his lacrosse practice is more inconvenient for Theo than he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a delay again, but in return, you get a slightly bulkier chapter than usual. 
> 
> Sorry for my brief bout of insecurity last chapter *monkeyface* but I shall try to be more confident going forward (which is getting harder as the story ponderously moves towards it's conclusion lol)

Theo awoke in a mild state of confusion and panic, as he always did, when his alarm went off. It took a few seconds for the morning sun to dissipate the foggy haze of confusion until he realised he was in Liam’s house, in his own bed and not hell. Fumbling with his phone to shut off the nagging beeps, he remembered vividly the nightmares he had experienced and the cold sweat he had awoken to. He fell back on his pillows with a huff and took a deep breath. Something was different. The memory returned along with the scent…

After he had wiped down his sweat-coated body and washed his face, he had returned to his room and laid down. While his senses were dulled by the wolf's bane poisoning, they were still much stronger than a human’s. But even without enhanced smell, he would have recognised that scent immediately. Liam. The chimera had grabbed the foreign pillow out from under his own and examined it with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. He was frustrated that the beta had ‘witnessed’ his nightmare but a part of him was grateful. The werewolf had not confronted him, but rather silently offered his support. He was still surprised by these moments. Liam was more than he had ever expected the short-tempered boy to be.

Without thinking, he buried his face in the pillow, which he had placed on top of his own, and took a deep breath. He felt guilty of the involuntary moan he let out. He knew it was wrong to think of Liam in this way. The young wolf had not shown any signs of having feelings for Theo other than friendship and concern, but even if he did, the chimera knew he could not allow himself to return them. Liam deserved better than a black-hearted monster with blood-covered claws.

Theo eventually forced himself to stop indulging in the amazing scent of the younger boy – a musky mix of earth, oak, labdanum and a bit of sweat. It seemed the werewolf had given up using deodorants or powerful smelling soaps and shampoos since his senses had been supercharged, and the older boy appreciated that. Natural smells tell you a lot about who a person is and he could almost smell Liam’s purity and goodness.

The chimera rolled himself out of bed reluctantly as he recalled that he was being forced to attend school again. “Joy,” he breathed out as he dragged his feet over to his door. Thoughts of disappearing into the town or wilderness drifted through his mind as he made his way to the bathroom, but he shook them off. Liam and his family had been so supportive and patient with him – he could survive this humiliation for their sake. He stopped in front of the bathroom door and listened. There was no sound, so he reached out for the handle; but as he did, the door opened and he was confronted with a flushed young werewolf wearing nothing but a towel and a few drops of water running down his toned body.

Theo stood frozen for a moment and tried in vain not to let his eyes take in everything before him. He was surprised to find that Liam had a bit of chest hair, clinging to his still damp skin. As the chimera’s eyes reached the edge of the towel, wrapped way too low down on the beta’s waist, he could feel his skin beginning to burn and quickly snapped his eyes back up as he tried to calm himself. Unfortunately, those perfect crystal pools did little to douse the fire growing within him. Unable to slow his heart or cool his skin, the older boy resorted to his most reliable tool, his acerbic tongue.

“Jesus Liam, cover yourself. Thank god I haven’t had breakfast yet,” Theo groaned, hand held up to his eyes as he feigned blindness.

The young wolf recovered from his own shock at finding the chimera on the other side of the door and scowled. “Fuck you Raeken, you wish you looked at good as me,” the beta scoffed. If the chimera’s senses had been in peak form, he may have been able to tell the younger boy was lying – but whether it was to Theo or himself was another story.

“Whatever you say Pillsbury Pup,” the older boy chuckled sardonically. He pushed past the short boy with his hand still over his eyes, the threat of the sight coupled with the feel of the beautiful beta being too much for the chimera to risk. He shut the door behind him, cutting off Liam’s attempts to insult him back, and moved towards the shower. Perhaps a warm shower was not the best idea in this situation, he mused to himself.

The chimera felt far more like himself after an icy shower. His blood was cooled and his mind was on anything but that infuriating beta. That is until he remembered that he would be driving said wolfling to and from school for the foreseeable future. Theo could handle being around Liam, but he usually kept a fair amount of distance between them. Now he would be one foot away from the boy several times a day and he lamented his cursed fate, and his inability to force himself not to want the damn werewolf as badly as he did.

The older boy scurried back to his room in the most undignified way, hoping not to run into Liam while he was half-naked himself. He made a mental note to take his clothes with him to the shower in future. After securely locking his door behind him, Theo proceeded to finish drying off and got dressed quickly. He had been dressing down around the house and Liam, but he had an image to maintain and subsequently chose an outfit designed to show off all that he had. Tight black jeans and a dark blue v-neck with a pair of stylish black sneakers comprised his look, which he completed with a wad of the gel Liam had lent him to style his hair. He looked as sinisterly hot as the first day he had arrived in Beacon Hills.

As Theo entered the kitchen, he couldn’t help but be delighted by the gasp he heard from the younger boy already digging into his breakfast. But the little werewolf was clearly still annoyed about their bathroom encounter and jibed, “Jeez Theo, we are going to school, not nymphos-R-us summer camp.”

The chimera just laughed as he seated himself, but realised he wasn’t the only one making an effort today. Liam had shucked his usual sweats and baggy shirts for a pair of ass-sculpting blue jeans, a white muscle shirt and some white trainers. It was almost as if he were trying to show up the older boy after he had made fun of him earlier. If that was the case, Theo regretted his earlier jabs because the beta was extremely distracting right now. It didn’t help that he had also styled up his usual bedhead, and the chimera tried not to make a show of just how hard he was trying not to stare at the short werewolf.

“Oh hush Liam,” Mrs Geyer chided from the kitchen counter where she was finishing up some eggs, which she proceeded to serve to Theo with some bacon and apple juice. “Theo looks very handsome today, as always,” she winked at the older boy.

Liam just snorted as he munched on his crispy bacon. The older boy thanked the woman as he began decimating his breakfast, not noticing the way the young werewolf’s eyes were boring into him.

 “You know mom, sometimes I think you like Theo more than me,” the beta pouted.

“Nonsense. You are still my precious little munchkin,” the cheerful woman crooned as she reached out a hand to pet her son’s head.

The beta ducked away as though she were holding wolf's bane in her hand. “Watch the hair mom!” he yelped with a nonplussed look on his face at being mothered so overbearingly.

“Pfft, anything she does can only be an improvement,” the chimera scoffed from across the table between mouthfuls of bacon. And as the younger boy turned to glare at him, he added, “Munchkin.” If looks could kill, he would have been back in hell in a heartbeat.

“Now you boys behave yourself, and Liam be sure to keep Theo company at school. It’s his first day back and I am sure he will be nervous,” Mrs Geyer went on as she turned to make coffee for herself and her husband, not noticing the incredulous look on her son’s face.

“Mom, Theo doesn’t get nervous. He makes others nervous,” the beta grumbled. But his mother gave him a look over her shoulder that quickly silenced him. Theo wondered if he could master that look – it would be invaluable in dealing with the impetuous young werewolf. “Yes mom,” the younger boy muttered in defeat.

“Good. Now finish up your breakfast or you’ll be late,” she finished as she lifted the mugs of coffee to head upstairs. She paused at the door, “Oh dear, I almost forgot.” She set down the coffees and rummaged in her handbag, digging out several notes after a few seconds. She handed them over to Theo and said, “Lunch money for you boys. Make sure Liam doesn’t eat too much junk food.”

“Seriously mom? I am not a kid you know, I handled my lunch money just fine before Theo showed up,” the grumpy wolf whined, but his mother had already grabbed the coffees and was heading upstairs to her husband.

“Don’t argue with your mother… Munchkin,” Theo snarked as he put his empty plate in the sink and reached for his keys hanging on the wall.

“I will end you,” Liam growled menacingly, but when he realised Theo was about to leave him behind, he quickly wolfed down the rest of his breakfast in a panic.

The chimera just leaned against the door and watched the happy-go-lucky boy. It felt really nice to be around Liam, even if he knew it couldn’t last. The young man was so full of life and goodness, Theo could almost convince himself that it would rub off on him if he spent enough time with him.

He was pulled out of his reverie by a soft, although not that soft, punch on his arm. “Yo, you ready to go jerkface?” the short boy grinned at him with his backpack slung over his shoulder. It was sometimes easy to forget that after all they had been through together, they were still just youngsters. But nothing could remind the hybrid faster than the thought of going back to school.

“Ugh, yeah sure. Let’s get going. I’m sure your little boyfriends are dying to see you,” the chimera relented as they headed out the door.

The werewolf bounded down the path and hopped into the truck, and Theo couldn’t help but grin stupidly at the younger boy’s energy and innocence. Liam just smiled at him as he climbed into the truck, as though they hadn’t been about to claw each other over the kitchen table. “I’m really glad you’re coming back to school. It’ll be fun!” the younger boy enthused. It was all the chimera could do not to break out laughing at just how cute the beta was.

“Seatbelt,” Theo stated, trying not to let Liam see that he was also a bit excited by the idea – but only a little bit. After the short little bundle of energy had strapped in, the chimera pulled out and began the drive to school. It was kind of scary that the place was still even running after all the shit that went down there. Not to mention all the teachers that turned out to be psychopathic murderers – they really should vet them better before hiring.

The older boy drove slowly, enjoying the breeze on his arm and face as Liam fidgeted on his phone in silence. He would occasionally glance at the beta from the corner of his eye and his lips would twitch at the way the younger boy would stick out his tongue when he was concentrating hard, or bite his lip when he made a spelling mistake. If this was what normal life was like, he could see the appeal, but he felt a weight tugging on his stolen heart, reminding him that normal was something he would never be.

The pair arrived at school and Liam was out of the car almost before Theo had even finished parking. The older boy let out a huff, “How do you have so much energy so early in the morning?”

“I guess I just slept well,” the werewolf beamed at him. Then his face took on a slightly concerned look, “Why, did you not sleep well?”

The chimera coughed slightly, “No, I slept just fine actually.” He knew what Liam had done, and obviously Liam knew that he knew what he had done, but he wasn’t going to admit anything out loud.

“Oh, that’s good,” the beta said slowly before smiling again, but that strange look was still in his eyes. “Well then, let’s get this day started!” he elated as they walked through the front doors.

Quite a few students stopped to stare at the loud young man, but he didn’t really seem to care. Theo didn’t shrink away from the looks, but he did stand decidedly behind the enthusiastic beta. Even with the Anuk-Ite gone, he wasn’t willing to trust these humans so easily – especially after they had just stood watching as his werewolf friend was beaten and abused, assuming they didn’t join in.

It was only a few moments before the two ran into Liam’s other half, or halves, in the form of Mason and Corey. The young lovers were all smiles as they approached. “Hey Liam, and... Theo,” the darker-skinned boy began before adding, “Theo? Why’s Theo here? Not that I mind of course, just curious.” He was stammering and smiling a bit manically at this point, trying his best not to offend the large chimera.

“Well, if you would stop making out with your boyfriend for five seconds and check your phone, you would see that I texted you this morning telling you that Theo was coming back to school. He is taking some bridging classes for summer school,” the short wolf explained without seeming to breathe. The older boy sometimes marvelled at how the sun burning so bright inside the handsome young boy didn’t burn out with the amount of energy he seemed to exude.

“That’s pretty cool,” Corey piped up, almost startling the larger chimera. It was so easy to forget the timid young boy was around. Even without his powers, he seemed to fade into the background just by being so unassuming. “It will be nice to hang out and get to know each other better, since it is just going to be the four of us soon,” he added with a gentle smile.

“Yeah… I guess that’s true,” Liam breathed, but then he rallied again. “I guess we’ll just have to make the most of the time we have left with Scott and the others. At least we get to see him at practice,” he grinned, seeming to enjoy the idea of being active out on the field again after being cooped up for so long.

“Oh, there’s seriously still lacrosse practice this late in the year?” Theo lamented, realising he would probably be required to wait for the young beta to finish before they could head home.

“Yeah!” the pumped up werewolf exclaimed, before realising that the chimera wasn’t as excited by the idea. “Oh, well you don’t have to wait around for me. I am fine getting home by myself,” he smiled reassuringly.

“No no, that’s fine. I can wait,” the older boy said very believably. The truth was that he hadn’t been alone with Liam’s parents since moving in. Don’t misunderstand, he was quite fond of them – Dr Geyer was a quiet but friendly man and his wife was cheerful and kind to the point of mania – but he wasn’t quite ready to deal with them without their son as buffer.

“Okay, cool. Well you can come out to the field or wait for me in the library or whatever,” the beta offered warmly.

“Sure,” Theo stated blandly. The two lovebirds were watching this exchange with an unusual amount of interest and he didn’t want to give them any strange ideas.

He leaned against the wall while the three younger teens caught up and spoke about the mood at the school. It seemed most of the students and teachers had been able to begin adjusting to the new reality in the town. Then again, cliquey segregation was hardly a novel concept at any high school so this was just another label dropped into the cesspool of pubescent sociology.

The chimera couldn’t help but smirk at the looks most of the youngsters walking past their group were giving him. _I guess hot trumps scary_ , he thought to himself. At least that meant that Liam shouldn’t be ostracised like he was when fear trumped hormones. Still, Theo had to suppress the urge to growl whenever a girl, or even an occasional guy, would give the beta a lustful look. The boy was beautiful but he wasn’t, and could never be, Theo’s.

With the ringing of the bell, the three juniors headed off to class, with Liam looking back at the senior reassuringly and gave him a thumbs up. The older boy just shook his head and chuckled at this dorky display before heading off to find out what hell Mrs Martin had planned for him.

**A few hours later**

Theo shambled into the cafeteria at lunchtime. He felt like his brain had been turned to mush – how the hell did normal people survive twelve years of this banal crap? He found Liam waiting for him at the doors with a peeved expression on his face.

“Jeez Liam, we have only been apart for a few hours and you’re already waiting for me like a puppy?” he teased with a smirk.

“You have my lunch money jackass!” the beta snarled in annoyance. As the chimera fished the notes out of his pocket, the younger boy snatched a few from him and stalked off. Theo just watched him with amusement. It shouldn’t be fair for someone to be that cute when stomping around in anger.

He gave the werewolf some space before heading over to the counter and buying the least worrisome-looking thing he could find. He didn’t trust what was being passed off as ‘meat’ so he snagged something vegetarian and started heading over to where the three young packmates were sitting. Perhaps the mercurial beta had been mollified by stuffing his face. But as he was walking towards their table, something caught his eye.

There was a lone figure seated in the far corner of the room; there were several empty tables between him and the nearest person. Curious, the chimera focused his vision and almost growled when he recognised the boy. He stood for a moment considering the situation before sauntering over to the solitary boy.

He saw Liam watching him from the corner of his eye, but couldn’t bring himself to look at the beta – he didn’t want to see the hurt look he knew would be on that usually cheerful handsome face. Theo approached the table and seated himself opposite Gabe, who looked up in surprise, which quickly transformed into terror. His chair scraped the floor as he scrambled to stand up and leave but he was frozen in place when the chimera coldly commanded, “Sit.”

The older boy didn’t look at his prey, he simply picked at his food with distaste. What was already unappetising only grew more so with unpleasant company. But this needed to be done. Gabe’s eyes were darting around looking for some way to escape, but his shoulders quickly sagged in defeat when he realised he had no hope of eluding the creature before him.

Theo watched from his peripherals as the gears ran in overdrive in the former hunter’s head. Thinking up excuses, explanations, pleas or accusations – anything to get him out of this situation. The chimera grew annoyed but kept his face cold and expressionless. Eventually, the younger boy opened his mouth and the chimera knew that what he said would decide his fate. Would he be as foolish as the older boy had been?

“I’m sorry,” Gabe said softly, terrified that just speaking would get him killed. Theo looked up at him calmly. His expression was calculating and the tall youngster seemed to shrink under his stare.

The chimera’s eyes glowed slightly as he watched the boy squirming. But instead of the claws to the throat idea that had crossed his mind at the sight of the fool that had made the tragic mistake of hurting his – he corrected himself before the thought could finish forming – friend, he levelled one word at him, “Good.”

The tall boy seemed unsure how to proceed but made the wise choice of being honest, “I know I don’t deserve to be forgiven after what I did, but I truly am sorry. I promise I won’t bother any of you ever again; I just want to get through this and get out of here. I just want to live my life.”

Theo almost let his expression falter when he heard those words, so similar to his own. This was just another kid who had screwed up and wanted to live his life better. His glowing eyes turned to slits as he considered the boy, who seemed to have stopped breathing. Before the poor idiot could suffocate himself, the chimera spoke in a slow deliberate tone, “Never forget that shame, that guilt, that loathing of the evil you have done. Hold onto it, because the more vividly you remember how disgusted it makes you feel, the more you will try to never have to feel it again. People are more forgiving than you would think, and they are willing to forgive far worse things than you have done; but don’t for one second think that means that you don’t deserve to die for your sins. Your life is a privilege that you need to live up to and dying would be too good for you. You need to be better, do better, and try to fix the shit you’ve done.”

Gabe just stared at him, mouth agape. The chimera placed his knife and fork upon his plate, having totally lost his appetite and started to rise from his chair when the taller boy finally spoke, “How?”

His expression was so hopeless and filled with despair that Theo couldn’t help but reflect that it was like looking in a mirror. He had gotten lucky, far more so than he deserved, and it would be a betrayal of the goodness he had been shown if he didn’t at least try to help this lost soul seeking redemption. “Apologising to those you have hurt is a good start; whether they forgive you or not is irrelevant. But more than that, you need to make amends with those who believed in you and who you let down,” the older boy explained with what could almost be called sympathy. As he spoke he couldn’t help but look over at the table that seated Liam, Corey, Mason and, to his surprise, Nolan. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Gabe was looking too – not following Theo’s gaze, but his own heart.

The chimera smiled inwardly as he walked away from the conflicted boy. The rest was up to him. Liam gave him an odd, questioning look as he passed their table but Theo just winked at him with a smirk. He could almost imagine hearing the boy’s heartbeat spike in frustration, and he kind of loved that he could at least make the boy’s heart race in that way.

**Yet another few hours later**

Theo was sitting on the bleachers with a textbook, biology maybe, open on his lap. He wasn’t really paying it any attention, although anyone watching him would swear he was deeply engrossed in the material. Instead, he was actually watching the figures on the field darting to and fro pointlessly chasing a ball as though their lives depended on it. He couldn’t understand the appeal of all that wasted energy, but Liam seemed to enjoy it and the chimera couldn’t deny that he was enjoying watching the younger boy.

He smirked to himself every time the beta scored a goal and looked up hopefully to see if the older boy had witnessed it. The fact that he ‘seemingly’ hadn’t only seemed to spur the short werewolf to try even harder to draw some attention to himself. It was quite adorable actually. Eventually he did look up as Liam scored the winning goal and Scott blew his whistle to conclude practice. The two werewolves were close together talking and Theo was again annoyed that his powers were still shut down. But as they turned to look at him, he was determined not to let his frustration show, and as they waved at him, he simply raised his middle finger with a sneer.

The chimera packed up his bags and started heading back to the truck. He didn’t really want to engage with Scott – part of him still resented his one-time friend for allowing his girlfriend to send him to hell – so he decided to wait for Liam in the parking lot. He was a bit surprised to discover he didn’t have to wait long, as the beta came bounding across the grass and fell in beside him before he even reached his truck. More surprisingly, and far more distressingly, he realised the younger boy had skipped his shower before changing after practice.

“Um, aren’t you supposed to shower after practice,” the older boy asked, hoping he sounded more disgusted than what he really felt. God the werewolf smelled good. He always smelled good, but his still sweat-slicked body was practically oozing pheromones at this point. It was all Theo could do not pounce on the shorter, muscular beta.

“Well yeah, normally,” Liam waved away the question, “but you already had to wait for me to finish practice and I felt bad so I thought I’d just shower at home so you don’t have to be even more bored than you clearly were out on the field.” The young man seemed a bit hurt that the chimera hadn’t paid him any attention during practice, but he was still putting the older boy first. This just made it even harder for the chimera to keep his ravenous beast in its cage.

He tried to quell the growing emotions within him by replacing them with those he was more comfortable with – namely contempt and sarcasm. “Oh, so you stinking up my truck with your rancid B.O. is doing me a favour?” the larger boy derided. Seeing the despairing look on the gorgeous little beta’s face was almost enough to break the chimera’s will.

Anger flared in Liam’s eyes for a moment, but Theo was surprised to see it fade quickly, realising that the younger boy was working hard to keep his temper under control. “Um, sorry. I didn’t even think about that. Guess I’m just used to catching a ride with Mason or walking alone. I could run back and grab a quick shower,” he offered in an evenly tempered voice. The chimera felt both crappy that he had tried to get the boy angry just as a distraction to his own emotional problems, as well as annoyed that he had failed in that goal.

“No no, it’s fine. Sorry, you were just trying to be considerate. Maybe I should try the same some time,” the older boy soothed the beta. “Besides, we are already at my truck; we may as well head home so we can both relax after today,” he added with a soft smile. Liam didn’t say anything, he simply tilted his head slightly before shaking it and laughing cheerfully.

The drive home was awkward. Being so close to the werewolf was always a bit difficult, but being so close to him when there was still a thin sheen of sweat on his body – and his tight clothing was clinging even tighter to his sculpted form – was sheer torture. Theo drove a lot faster heading home than he did towards school, and he hoped the beta assumed that he was just keen to get back and relax.

As they pulled up towards the driveway, the chimera was already undoing his seatbelt and was out the door the moment the handbrake was up. He was already bounding up the stairs before he heard Mrs Geyer shouting from the living room, “Did you boys have a good day? I hope you didn’t do anything to make Theo uncomfortable Liam!”

The werewolf’s reply was muffled as Theo clicked the door to his room closed behind him and fell face down on his bed. How he had survived the day was a mystery to him. He would gladly take a horde of hunters, Ghost Riders or even the Dread Doctors again rather than be trapped in a confined space with that sweaty little mutt again.

As he breathed deeply to try to calm his nerves, and his hormones, Theo let out an agonised groan… because all he could smell from his pillow was Liam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to eveyone who posts comments on my work. I appreciate it more than you know. And a special mention to sofiaaaa, adriennete, alphastiles and trashwrites for their consummate support on all my chapters ❤❤


	8. Riptide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo hasn't been the same since school started and Liam is worried as he feels the chimera pulling away from him. To make matters worse, Scott is leaving for college and Malia is going with him. With so many things in his life uncertain, Liam feels overwhelmed by the tides of change and begins to realise what he needs to hold onto most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it continues... This chapter had me a bit confused and needed quite a lot of reworking, so I really hope it came out well and it conveys what I had hoped to get across. Enjoy the read and, as always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

It was Friday and Liam was depressed. This went against seventeen years of instinct but it was unavoidable. Scott and Malia were leaving. Stiles had returned to his internship the day after Theo woke up and the two London werewolves had left shortly thereafter. Warranted, he didn’t really know them very well, but all of this, coupled with the impending loss of his alpha and a close friend, made the young beta feel extremely alone.

What didn’t help his mood at all was the fact that the enigmatic chimera he had haplessly grown quite fond of was now practically ignoring him. Since school began again for the older boy, he had been more withdrawn from Liam. At first, the werewolf thought he was just overtaxed by the crazy amount of work he had to catch up on, but as the week progressed, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something more was going on.

Theo would be very silent in the car to and from school, and would exit the vehicle so quickly that even Liam’s enhanced werewolf vision could barely keep up. The chimera was spending a lot less time in the beta’s room and, while he was still very polite and friendly to Dr and Mrs Geyer, that sparkle in his eyes when they practically doted on him and teased their son was no longer present. The few times he did speak, it always seemed like he had something more to say but was holding back, and there was an odd look in his eyes that the younger boy thought he recognised but which flickered and faded away as comprehension slipped through his fingers.

Liam knew he enjoyed having the older boy around to play games with, banter with or just relax with, but he didn’t realise how much so until that presence in his life was suddenly diminished. Theo had come to mean a lot to him, and he was trying to come to grips with what that actually meant, but his concern for the chimera always seemed to come first. And yet again, something was clearly wrong and he wanted so badly to know what it was so that he could help. Had he done something wrong? Had he insulted the handsome brooding teen when he was bantering with him? Was he having nightmares again? He wanted to howl in frustration because, as much as he wanted to help Theo, the older boy seemed just as intent on keeping him at arm’s length.

Right now, they were on their way to Scott’s house, and Theo was driving with unusually tense focus on the road, never even glancing at his passenger. The werewolf sighed and eventually spoke up, hoping that maybe this time the chimera wouldn’t be so aloof, “So… I guess it’s just gonna be the four us soon… I mean since Lydia is leaving on Monday.” Liam liked Lydia, but she was never as close to him as Scott, Stiles or even Malia, who seemed to understand his rage better than most people.

“Looks that way,” the older boy said in a flat voice. _Well so much for that idea_ , the beta groaned inwardly.

He had seen a few different sides to Theo since they started spending more time together: the sarcastic jackass (everyone knew that side but somehow it didn’t annoy the beta anymore), the l33t gamer (this side did annoy him a little bit – seriously who was that good at video games without even having owned a console in their life?), the conscientious houseguest, the suffering little kid, the regret-filled killer, and he had seen the young man laugh with abandon when joking or teasing his friend. But this, this was the only side of the chimera that Liam truly hated.

Theo’s guard was almost never truly down, and on the odd occasional it faltered, he recovered so quickly it would startle the werewolf; sometimes, it was like dealing with two totally different people. But lately, the older boy’s walls had thickened and turned to diamond. It was as though Liam could see glimpses of what was inside but the image was reflected and distorted and the harder he tried to see, the more it hurt his eyes.

The werewolf decided to remain quiet for the rest of the drive, which was thankfully brief. Scott and Malia were still busy packing their jeep when Theo’s truck pulled up.

Since the two older pack members had gotten more serious with each other, they had decided that instead of the werecoyote going off to explore France, she would be getting an apartment with her boyfriend and exploring sunny California – well, the normal parts of California anyway (Beacon Hills hardly counted).

As Liam approached the two older teens, Scott turned and gave one of his trademark smiles, radiating warmth like a supernova. “Liam, Theo! So good to see you guys,” he elated, as though it were a pleasant surprise that his own beta had come to see him off.

The chimera simply grunted, and the younger boy couldn’t help but notice that his friend always seemed a bit more uncomfortable than usual when his alpha was around. Liam smiled back at his pack leader and was about to offer a handshake when he was enveloped in a giant, and very warm, bear hug. The short beta just giggled as he was manhandled by his affectionate alpha, but as the hug went on, he could have sworn he heard Theo growling.

Before he could look over at the chimera to see if he was just imagining things, Scott was releasing him and Malia was stepping up. Luckily, she didn’t hug him – Liam wasn’t sure she really knew how to touch someone without the intention of hurting them, and he quite liked the shirt he was wearing. Instead, she just gave him what she obviously thought was a friendly smile, and said, “You know we won’t be too far away if something ever comes up or if someone decides to give you trouble.” The werewolf could see her eyes focusing elsewhere and knew she was looking at Theo behind him. The chimera just snorted and Liam gave a nervous laugh.

“Thanks Malia, but I think I have a handle on things for now. But if there is ever real trouble, I will definitely let you know,” he reassured her. While it had been kind of funny in the past when she would harass Theo, the younger boy now found it a bit tedious. He trusted the chimera, completely he admitted to himself, and she should trust him to be able to make a responsible choice about the older boy. He wished the others knew Theo like he did, that they could see the goodness inside that struggled to shine like a candle in the hurricane of his guilt.

Melissa came out and greeted the two new arrivals before ushering everyone inside. Scott complained that they still had a lot packing to do, but his mother insisted they spend a little quality time together, as a pack. Theo made it very clear that he didn’t want to be included in that definition as he stood off to one side of the living room while the rest of the group huddled together on a couple sofas. It was really nice being together and so close, and Liam was really going to miss this when everyone was gone.

“I am going to miss you little guy,” Scott confessed as he stood up after they had spent about an hour denying the inevitable passage of time. “It’s gonna be rough at first, for both of us. You are my first true beta and our bond is different from any other,” he added, reaching over to lay his hand on Liam’s shoulder, and again the younger boy could swear there was growling coming from across the room. “But never feel like you can’t lean on me for help when you need it, and you better keep in touch,” the older boy was smiling that lopsided smile of his, but there were tears forming in his eyes.

The younger werewolf had to choke down his own rising emotions, because he knew that if he cried, Scott would too. “I promise I’ll text you all the time, but you have to do the same. I wanna know what college is like. And if you guys visit San Francisco, I better get a million pictures!” he joked, not wanting to show how much he was hurting inside. Hayden had left and now his alpha was leaving too. He didn’t blame either of them; they had their own lives and responsibilities and Liam understood that, but it didn’t make it any easier. The beta looked over at the chimera skulking in the corner and couldn’t help but wonder if he would leave him too.

As Liam looked forlornly at his new friend, he could have sworn that the older boy almost took a step towards him, as though he knew how much the young werewolf was hurting right now, even when he did his best to hide it. Perhaps he could see it because he knew that feeling of isolation and pain so well. The short beta had to fight down an impulse of his own that surprised him as it crept up from his chest – he wanted so badly to run over to Theo, wrap his arms around him and never let him go. His thoughts regarding the chimera had been confusing him for a long time now, but this one was clear. He needed the arrogant, sarcastic, annoying, funny, smart and… beautiful boy in his life. And maybe, for now, knowing that was enough.

Liam reluctantly helped Scott and Malia pack the rest of their things in the jeep. It wasn’t that late – since Mrs Geyer had somehow been convinced to let her boys play hooky from school despite their horrendous attendance records – but the two older pack members had a relatively long drive ahead of them. The tightknit group clustered around the vehicle as Malia climbed in and Scott stood by the driver’s side looking at his house.

As he watched the older boy silently saying goodbye to his childhood home, the beta wondered if he would be as resolute when it came time for him to leave for college. A small spike of panic rose in his chest when he realised that it was only a year away and then he might be losing the last of his friends as Mason and Corey headed off to college, probably together – because he knew the two boys would get into somewhere great while he would be lucky to make it into a community college.

As his anxiety rose at the thought of being abandoned, falling by the wayside as everyone’s lives moved forward, Liam felt a warmth beside him and heat enveloped his hand. He didn’t dare look or react at all, because Theo had been acting so strange lately and he was scared that if he said or did anything, the older boy would retreat behind his walls again. Instead, the werewolf tried to allow the warmth to spread up his arm and calm his heart and mind. But it wasn’t enough; as he watched the boy and girl drive away in the large vehicle, the image morphed grotesquely into that of Brett and Lori and the SUV that had struck them down.

The beta’s breathing sped up and his heart pounded an ominous overture. He closed his eyes to try to dispel the image but it only served to solidify it in his mind as his rage and the pain of his loss commandeered his imagination. He clenched his jaw, fangs piercing his soft lips as tears escaped their tightly sealed crystal prison. The warmth disappeared from his hand and he didn’t blame the chimera for stepping away; he must look so pathetic right now and Theo didn’t do feelings well, especially not lately. At least, that’s what Liam thought.

As he felt himself losing control, the younger boy expected the chimera to mock him like he always did, to get him angry to distract him from his fear. Instead, he was shocked out of his despair by the feeling of arms wrapping around him and his weeping face being drawn into the warm space between the older boy’s neck and shoulder. The werewolf trembled uncertainly before grasping desperately at the gift. He clung to the muscular young man fiercely, retching sobs pouring from his body as his raw emotions crashed against the rock that anchored him. After moments that dragged into eternity, his tears subsided and he breathed raggedly as Theo held him gently but with the certainty that he wouldn’t let get until the younger boy was ready.

And in that moment, he knew that he wasn’t alone. No matter how scary it was when the currents of life swept people away from you, those rivers all ran into one ocean, where the illusion of separation was banished. True friendship was harder to kill than a hundred year old löwenmensch or an interdimensional shapeshifter… or a cocky handsome chimera that made you want to kill him on a weekly basis. At least it was better than when he wanted to kill him on a daily basis the wolf smiled inwardly to himself.

Liam’s mind had begun to clear and he took stock of his situation. His arms were tightly around Theo’s waist as he breathed in deeply to regain his composure, a goal that was made impossible as the scent of the tall, muscular young man flooded his body. He smelled so real up close, nothing like the hollow facsimile the beta had experienced when he swapped their pillows. And, more worryingly, he couldn’t stop himself from breathing deeper, wanting more of it, wanting to be encompassed and drowned in it. He had been wrong; simply having Theo in his life wasn’t enough. But he somehow forced himself to lean back a bit, away from the overwhelming scent that was addling his senses.

Eventually, the chimera said, in a voice more tender than Liam had ever thought possible, “You okay?” The beta opened his eyes and was surprised by how close Theo’s face was to his own, how big and blue his eyes were, and how warm and inviting they looked. He couldn’t understand this gorgeous guy that was one second pretending he didn’t exist and, the next, making him wonder how he could continue to exist without him. No, Theo meant more to him than had been willing to admit, until now, when the realisation of who mattered most in his life was so vivid.

“Yeah,” the werewolf breathed in a husky voice. “I’m sorry,” he added as he averted his eyes from the tranquil ocean before him in embarrassment.

The chimera’s hand moved down from his neck to his back and rubbed gentle circles into his muscles, sore and tense from trembling, and soothingly assured him, “Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for. I know nobody can replace Scott or your pack, and I have been a real jerk lately, but I promise I will try to do better, to be better. I want to be what you need me to be, the friend you deserve.”

It shouldn’t have stung, but it did – _friend_. The older boy had never shown any signs that he felt something deeper for the werewolf – in fact, he always seemed to pull away whenever any real emotion seemed to be shared between them – so why did it still feel like a rejection? Liam was too scared to look back into Theo’s eyes; he was afraid he would see the truth that was swelling up from his heart, what he was finally realising he wanted the older boy to be to him. But after the past week, he couldn’t imagine the chimera reciprocating the feelings he had unknowingly been developing for him.

“Thank you… for being my friend,” he equivocated, before placing his hand on the broad chest before him and gently pushing the taller boy back. “I’ll be okay. That just caught me off-guard. I thought I was ready but I guess it brought up some unexpected feelings,” the beta explained, but he knew now that those feelings were more than just loneliness over the people who were leaving him or those he had lost forever – it was also for the person he wanted but was too scared to reach for out of fear of losing him too.

“I know I don’t exactly scream emotional support, but if you need to talk…” the chimera left it hanging in the air hopefully, but Liam just nodded solemnly before heading for the truck.

The ride home was silent again, but a very different kind of silence – it was heavy and suffocating. Suddenly, the younger boy was the one who wanted to get away from the tight confines of the vehicle as quickly as possible, but he knew how it made him feel when Theo retreated from him. And with the chimera suddenly opening up again and extending a hand in friendship, he didn’t want to discourage him or make him feel unwanted – because he was wanted; he was wanted more than he could know. Liam wasn’t willing to lose this incredible and complicated guy who had changed his life in ways he never imagined were possible, and if that meant pretending being just friends was enough, he could do that… He had to.

The beta wanted to break the silence, but he didn’t know how. The older boy had confused him so much lately that he didn’t know what was safe and what wasn’t. All he was certain of was that he needed Theo to stay with him and simply remaining quiet wouldn’t jeopardise that. But strangely, it seemed the chimera wanted to talk for a change.

“It’s been a pretty rough week hasn’t it?” Theo stated, but there was that sense again that he wasn’t saying what he wanted to be saying.

“Um, yeah, I guess it has,” the werewolf agreed cautiously, even though part of him was screaming _spit it out already!!_

“I was thinking that… well, maybe, if you’d like… we could… well the thing is,” the chimera kept beginning and stopping and Liam was barely restraining himself from punching the handsome dumbass in the face to get him unstuck. “Would you like to maybe get away this weekend?” he finally managed to get out in a rushed breath.

The younger boy just stared incredulously, and he must have been doing it for longer than he thought because Theo eventually turned to look at him uncertainly. He could see the older boy was suddenly very unsure of his suggestion, but before he could rescind the offer, the beta quickly piped up, “Yeah! That sounds like a great idea!” before adding in a less overly exuberant tone, “Just the two of us?”

The chimera just blinked at this sudden 180 in his companion’s demeanour, but managed to say, “Um, yeah… Unless you maybe want to invite Mas…” But he was cut off abruptly.

“No, no. I think it would be cooler if it was just us,” the beta interjected. He knew that he had feelings for Theo now, but he didn’t fully understand them and a private getaway sounded like the perfect way to figure things out. “Soooo… what did you have in mind?” he asked, trying not to sound as insanely excited as he was.

By now, the older boy had recovered from his surprise and was pleased to see that his friend was perking up a bit, so he allowed a smirk to work its way onto his face as he said, “Well, I was thinking we could go camping in the reserve.”

“Really?” the werewolf asked as he tried to raise his eyebrow like Theo did when he was intrigued by Liam’s peculiar antics, like the odd way he did the dishes in a specific order and got annoyed when the chimera would drop a plate in the sink while he was washing the glasses. Regrettably, he had not mastered the technique and ended up looking constipated instead.

The older boy tried to contain his laughter, and failed horribly. Between laughs, coughs and gasping for air, he managed to get out, “Yes, really. God Liam you look ridiculous!” 

The beta pouted, which only seemed to exacerbate the hybrid’s hysteria. Finally, Liam punched Theo’s arm, which got him a flick to the ear, and things quickly escalated into all-out war. Somehow, the chimera managed to fend off the werewolf’s attacks and get in a few of his own, all while keeping his eyes on the road.

Unable to get the upper hand, the young wolf let out a huff of defeat and said, “So, really? You wanna go camping? Even though you were kinda roughing it living in your truck, you always struck me as the kinda guy who enjoyed a more pampered lifestyle.”

The older boy just chuckled and said in his most condescending tone, “Just because I don’t walk around looking like a pile of unwashed laundry doesn’t mean I am a pampered little princess. Some of us can rough it and still manage to look amazing.”

Liam wanted to bring the cocky bastard down a peg or two, but the enormous smile on his face made him hesitate. He hadn’t seen Theo this carefree in over a week and he would be damned if he was going to let his temper ruin that beautiful laughter. He beat down the rage monster inside him and calmly inquired, “So when were you thinking we could go on this wilderness expedition?”

“Hmmmmm,” the older boy pondered slowly, but he didn’t answer right away and the beta was getting a bit antsy hoping he wasn’t going to back out at the last second. Instead, the chimera stunned him by saying, “How about tonight?”

The short werewolf wanted to howl in excitement but somehow managed to play it cool, “Sounds good to me.”

“Great,” Theo exalted. “Two werewolves – well, close enough anyway – out in the woods. What could go wrong?” he concluded with a smirk, and Liam wondered, instead, what might go right for a change?

But then again, Theo just wanted to be friends… right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to everyone who continues to read and comment on my work. I really enjoy replying to you guys cos it feels like I get to explain a little of what I am thinking as I write and flesh out a bit of what my characters are going through. The compliments don't hurt either lol, but I like hearing your thoughts more!


	9. Starlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam is excited about the camping trip proposed by Theo, and the chimera is finding it harder to deny his feelings as he tentatively allows the werewolf to get closer to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to cover the whole camping trip in one chapter, but as is so often the case, I got caught up in my own head and things got complicated lol. Enjoy guys.

“Mooooooom, where’s the tent?” Liam whined from the garage.

“I don’t know. Where did you last see it?” Mrs Geyer replied disinterestedly as she leafed through a lifestyle magazine.

“If I could remember that, I wouldn’t be asking you now would I?” he huffed in exasperation.

“Don’t sass me young man,” his mother chided, but without any real force to it. “Have you tried asking your father?” she added as an afterthought.

“He’s at work,” her impatient son snapped back.

“Well you have fingers and a phone don’t you?” she fired back without missing a beat.

“Gaaaaah!” the werewolf growled as he stalked off to his room to fetch his cell phone.

Theo had a Cheshire smile plastered on his face as he watched the younger boy bantering with his mother. The past week had been tense, and he knew it was his own fault for pulling away from Liam. He had been worried that he would accidentally say or do something that would give away how he felt about the beautiful beta, so instead, he had said and done almost nothing, cutting himself off from the boy and his family. He had missed this carefree atmosphere and seeing the young werewolf being his cute, belligerent self.

“So where are you boys off to?” Mrs Geyer asked, startling the chimera out of his reverie.

“Oh, we were thinking it might be fun to go camping in the reserve,” he smiled disarmingly.

“That sounds nice,” she said as though she wasn’t really listening, but then she looked up and fixed the older boy with a piercing stare. “I am glad to see that you two have patched things up. Liam was very upset when he didn’t know what was making you so unhappy. We all worry about you Theo.”

Theo tried not to look as guilty as he felt. The more the werewolf and his family did their best to look out for him, the more the chimera felt like he just wasn’t good enough to be amidst them. “Thank you. I’m sorry I’ve been such a handful when you’ve been kind enough to allow me into your home,” he said sincerely, still not entirely used to actually feeling sorry about anything.

“No matter how bright the sun shines Theo, we can never see it until we are willing to open our eyes,” she said while watching him intently, as though she knew some great secret and was wondering if he knew it too. He chose not to speak, simply nodding instead. He didn’t want to risk thinking about what it might be.

The stairs rattled as the bundle of energy that was Liam came barrelling down them. “Seriously, who puts a tent in a box labelled _garden stuff_?” he cursed as he passed the older boy, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him along. Mrs Geyer just chuckled as she headed to the kitchen to pack some food, knowing, as all mothers do, that the boys probably thought marshmallows over a campfire counted as dinner.

Theo was dragged into a garage littered with gardening supplies, spare car parts and various tools and old sporting equipment. “Wow,” he said, half in teasing and half in genuine awe that a single room could actually get so messy.

“What?” the beta asked in annoyance as he crouched down to search under a tarp for the wayward box that allegedly contained the tent.

“Oh nothing, your garage has… a lot of character,” the chimera smirked.

“Yeah well, with my dad working most of the day, it’s supposed to be my job to keep this place tidy. But what with being hunted by humans, supernatural cowboys and other werewolves, and trying not to fail my ass off at school, I haven’t exactly had the time. So sue me,” the younger boy snarked, but Theo could tell he was genuinely stressed.

The older boy looked down at the werewolf’s back with concern as he pulled out the wayward box. “Maybe when we get back, we can sort out this mess,” he suggested half-heartedly, but when those pale blue eyes turned up to regard him with such warmth, his conviction hardened.

“That would be awesome,” Liam chimed up adorably before digging through the box and triumphantly producing the tent. “Now I just need the sleeping bags, which are…” he began, and the chimera knew it was going to be a while yet before they were ready to go. He laughed softly as he watched the little wolf empty the box before howling in frustration and heading back to his room to call his dad again, since he hadn’t thought to bring his phone down with him.

About an hour later, the truck was packed with supplies. The sleeping bags had eventually been found and now lay alongside the tent and their backpacks. Liam’s mom had given them a basket of food and some blankets and had insisted that they pack a first aid kit, ignoring the boys’ arguments that any injuries they were likely to sustain would heal before they even had a chance to bandage them up.

“You could be bulletproof for all I care; you boys aren’t going anywhere near those woods without the proper precautions,” she had declared as an ultimatum. Needless to say, they had ended up packing the kit.

With a final check of their packs, Theo said, “Think we have everything we need?”

Liam fidgeted impatiently; he clearly wanted to get going, but he also wanted everything to be perfect. “Um, I think so… Is it cool if we stop to get a few snacks besides the food my mom packed?” he asked nervously.

The chimera smirked when he saw how sweet the beta looked when he was worried that he was being annoying. “Sure thing, anything you want,” the older boy assured him, and the way his eyes lit up made it all worth it. Maybe he could make this work, because he didn’t want to see the young wolf in pain again.

“Okay mom, we’re leaving now!” Liam shouted into the house with enthusiasm.

Mrs Geyer came the door to see them off. With a thoughtful hand under her chin she asked, “Did you remember to pack your toothbrushes?”

“Yes mom,” the beta answered in the monotone of all teenagers being badgered by a parent.

“And did you pack spare underwear?” she asked. Theo thought she was just teasing at first but realised she was being serious and he felt a pang of sympathetic embarrassment for the werewolf.

“Oh my god mom…” the younger boy groaned. He looked over at the chimera with pleading eyes, “Can we please go now?”

While it was somewhat amusing to watch the shorter boy cringing, he took mercy on him and hopped in the truck while Mrs Geyer kept firing off embarrassing mom questions.

Realising the two teens were basically ignoring her, Liam’s mom decided to use up the last of her concerned mother ammo, “All right. You boys have fun but remember to be safe, and I want a text a few times a day to make sure you’re still alive. Don’t make me have to come looking for you!”

Her son just laughed as he hopped into the truck alongside the chimera. As they pulled off, Mrs Geyer was standing on the lawn waving. Theo wasn’t entirely sure, but he thought he heard her calling out, “Love you boys!” and his breath caught for a second.

Liam was smiling like an idiot the whole way towards the reserve, his fingers tapping on the dashboard to the music playing softly on the radio. The older boy couldn’t help but keep glancing from the corner of his eye to catch glimpses of that smile and the sparkle in the werewolf’s eyes. As they pulled up to the gas station on the edge of town, the younger boy climbed out of the vehicle and asked, “So, besides the mandatory marshmallows, what kinda snacks would you like?”

The chimera thought for a moment before saying, “Basically anything chocolate; just no nuts, I can’t stand nuts.” He pulled a face and made a slight gagging sound and the beta laughed.

“That’s cool, I hate nuts too. Maybe we’re made for each other,” Liam said surprisingly flirtatiously and he even threw in a wink, causing the older boy to almost choke as he swallowed his breath. But before he could do a double take, the short teen was strolling into the convenience store as though he hadn’t just made a cold-blooded killer blush.

Theo sat in the truck trying to gather his thoughts. It was hard enough for the chimera to hide his feelings from the younger boy without being teased by him. He could only imagine, and dread, what it would be like if the beta were ever to like him for real… he didn’t think he would be able to stay sane. Why did Liam have to look so damn gorgeous when he was happy?

It wasn’t long before the young wolf was on his way back to the truck with a bag of snacks, munching on a kit kat. He plopped the bag in the back then slipped back into his seat and offered the chimera a stick of his chocolate. “Miss me?” he asked with a corny grin.

“Trust me, if I were so inclined, I wouldn’t miss,” the older boy growled as he snagged the stick, nibbling on it as he started the truck. Liam just giggled at his death threat and leaned out the window, watching the sun begin its slow descent.

“Hope we can find a nice spot to set up camp before it gets dark,” he mused mostly to himself.

But the chimera answered anyway, “I already have somewhere in mind. I spent a bit of time out here after the Wild Hunt.” As he looked over, he couldn’t help but notice that the beta looked a little sad or perhaps guilty, but he didn't vocalise it. “Don’t worry, it’s not some Nemeton-esque blood sacrifice altar or anything,” he joked to try to dispel the boy’s frown, but although he smiled, his eyes remained the same.

They parked on the edge of the reserve before gathering up their supplies and heading into the woods. The sun was getting a bit low, so Theo set a pretty hard pace. It took them about thirty minutes to reach the site he had chosen, and Liam was glad there was still enough light to take it all in. While the chimera always looked good, amazing even, the beta never really took him for someone who placed a lot of value on aesthetics.

The glade was small, but big enough to set up camp. It was nestled beside a small creek that ran over some rocks nearby, creating a pleasant melody that put the werewolf immediately at ease. On the other side of the glade, the trees were thick, creating a wall of moss-covered wood. A person could easily forget about the world in such a secluded idyllic setting. It took a nudge from the older boy to bring the werewolf back to reality, specifically the reality where they had to set up the tent and get a fire started. They could see in the dark, but it was the principle of the thing.

“So you want tent duty or campfire duty?” the chimera asked as he set down his packs.

“Ummmm…” Liam hesitated.

“You’ve never been camping before have you?” Theo inquired with a slight smirk.

“No,” the shorter teen pouted. “My real dad wasn’t exactly much for getting out of the house, unless it was to get drunk at the bar. And my mom was always working so hard… And don’t get me wrong, my step-dad is great but he works a lot, and before the whole werewolf thing, I wasn’t exactly interested in spending quality time with him. He bought the tent a while back, but I was never willing to go…” The dark cloud surrounding the beta was ruining his normally pleasant smell; it was sometimes easy to forget that the usually cheerful and energetic younger boy had had a painful childhood. The chimera put his arm around the boy’s shoulder, which caused the werewolf to look up at him again with those strangely warm and relieved eyes. 

“I’ll sort out the tent so long, why don’t you decide what we are gonna have for dinner,” Theo suggested as he turned away to hide his own confused expression spreading across his face.

It took the efficient older boy about twenty minutes to get the tent set up and a fire started. It seemed the leftover firewood he had once gathered when staying in the park was still where he had stashed it, and it was perfectly dried and aged to make a great fire. The chimera could feel Liam watching him as he bustled around the camp and it felt different than usual. Normally, the feeling of being watched caused the hairs on his neck to rise even when he was around people he knew, but now he felt calm, relaxed and… safe.

“So what are we having?” the older boy inquired as he stoked the fire with a stick. The werewolf held up a pair of long thin sticks with marshmallows impaled on the tips. He had that goofy grin on his face again. Normally, Theo would have been compelled to tease him, but after the day they had had, he felt himself smiling back in relief that the younger boy was back to his old self. “Why am I not surprised?” he chuckled.

“Well we gotta start our first night off properly don’t we?” the beta said with excitement as the chimera took one of the offered sticks.

“Properly would be making sure there aren’t any bears nearby to be attracted by the sugary sweetness of melting marshmallows,” the older boy smirked as he turned to toast his treats over the flame. He could practically hear the short teens’ head whipping around as he looked out into the darkness, worried that there might really be bears nearby. “Relax, I’m just kidding. Besides, I seriously doubt there is anything scarier than us out here,” he laughed as he reached over for the stick in Liam’s hand and pulled on it to bring the boy closer to the fire.

The werewolf smiled nervously as he sat next to the taller boy. The heat from the flames causing his face to flush, or at least that’s what Theo assumed was causing it. “My mom also packed some sandwiches in case we didn’t have time to make a proper dinner. We could have those or…” he suggested as he handed his stick to the older boy, his soft hand rubbing along the top of the older boy’s as he let go.

“Sounds great,” the chimera said while staring into flames, hoping they would burn away the thoughts growing like weeds in his mind. Liam’s legs were rubbing against his own as the boy leaned past him to rummage in the basket and produce a Ziploc bag crammed with sandwiches. With the new awareness that werewolves had a much higher metabolism than humans, Mrs Geyer had gotten used to feeding the boys enormous amounts of food.

The beta removed a couple sandwiches and handed one to Theo, trading it back for his marshmallows, which were now perfectly crisped on the outside with soft, gooey centres. “Wow, you're great at this. Did you practice while you were out here or is this just another secret talent of the amazing Theo Raeken?” he praised as he bit tentatively into the sweets.

“Wha…” the older boy began to say but got distracting watching the werewolf. Normally, Liam wolfed down his food, which was cute in its own way but not exactly attractive. Now he was slowly licking up the sticky white centre of the marshmallow that oozed out after the hardened outer shell had been penetrated, and Theo was desperately trying to force himself to look away. He eventually managed to snap his head back to the fire just as the younger boy looked over to see why he was so quiet, and he hoped the flickering flames hid the redness he could feel burning at his skin from within.

“So what’s the plan? I guess it’s a bit late to do anything today. Should we get to bed early and see what we can get up to in the morning?” the beta asked as he watched the older boy picking at his food with unusual interest.

“Yeah,” the chimera breathed out, testing to see if he could trust his voice not to crack, “that might be a good idea.” Although the thought of sleeping next to Liam wasn’t exactly helping him relax.

“Oh, okay,” the shorter boy said, but Theo could tell he was a little disappointed by the lack of anything to do.

“Well… there is one thing we can do before bed,” the older boy admitted as he finished off his makeshift dinner.

“Really? Like what?” Liam asked, looking equal parts surprised and suspicious.

“Come with me,” the mysterious chimera said, walking towards the stream. The werewolf was still for a moment before scrambling to his feet and chasing after the older boy, who was now walking beside the stream in the dark. As he followed, his eyes shifted so that he could see where he was going. Theo never turned around, but he could hear the shorter boy trailing behind him.

After a few minutes, the pair reach a rocky outcrop, about ten feet high. “Be careful,” the hybrid warned without turning, “the rocks here get slippery.” With claws extended, he climbed the small rockface, followed shortly by the scrapes of Liam’s claws behind him.

Once they reached the top, the young wolf looked around but saw nothing beyond the small rocky knoll upon which they were standing - even the trees were several metres away, kept back by the rocky terrain. “So what’s the big surprise?” he asked as the chimera turned around, golden eyes shining in the pitch dark.

“Shift back, then look up,” he smiled before his glowing eyes blinked out. The beta followed his lead, everything going black beneath the moonless night sky. He looked up, and stopped breathing.

Above them was a sparkling ocean, its beauty forever preserved in the unchanging shadow of eternity. Liam had never seen so many stars, or so bright. As his body reminded him that breathing was unfortunately still very much required, all he could manage as he exhaled was, “Wow…”

“Yeah,” the taller boy agreed, slightly regretting that he couldn’t see the werewolf’s face in the darkness. “We worry so much about the moon messing with our heads that we often forget to appreciate the night sky. But when the moon is gone, it’s nice to look up and remember that we are still human too, and the things that scare us aren’t always all bad.”

“Sometimes,” the werewolf almost whispered in agreement, “we can find more beauty in darkness than we thought possible, if only we can move past the fear and distrust we have of it.” And then Theo was glad he couldn’t see the boy’s face, because he felt the heat of his eyes on him. He sank down to the moss-covered rocks and rested his head on his knees. He felt the warmth of the beta’s body as he joined him.

The chimera at last let his eyes shift again and looked over to the beautiful boy beside him; he was lying on his back looking up with a small smile on his face. And the older boy simply sat watching him, losing track of time as he drank in the memory. Eventually, a soft rustle in the bushes below broke him out of his trance. He closed his eyes and focused his hearing, but it wasn’t able to pick up anything; whether that was because there was nothing there, or his powers weren’t strong enough, he didn’t know. He looked back over to the face he had been staring at and realised that Liam had fallen asleep without him even registering it.

He considered waking the sleeping wolf, but after the emotional day he had had, he must have been exhausted, and he looked more peaceful than he had all week. Knowing he had been the cause of much of the beta’s stress, Theo knelt down beside the boy and lifted his arms up around his own neck. Surprisingly, Liam latched on almost instinctively, and it was easy to pick him up without waking him.

As the chimera hopped gracefully down to the ground, he could’ve sworn he heard that rustling again, but he was distracted by the boy in his arms suddenly nuzzling into his neck and holding him tighter, perhaps having sensed the movement of falling. His breath was hot on the older boy’s skin and he smelled even more amazing than usual, now that the smells of the town had been replaced by grass and moss, with a slight tinge of smoke. The hybrid sped up his return to camp but was still careful not to wake his passenger.

Theo was grateful for his night vision, even if it wasn’t in peak form, as the fire had burned down to embers safely in the confines of the pit he had constructed around it. Also luckily, although perhaps unwisely, they had left their tent open, so the older boy was able to carry the beta inside without needing to awkwardly juggle him while fussing with the flap.

The chimera laid the werewolf down on one of the sleeping bags, which were alarmingly close together inside the tent that suddenly seemed a lot smaller than he remembered. As he reached behind his neck to untangle the younger boy’s arms, he was suddenly tugged down into an embrace. Before he could react, his lips were on Liam’s. Even though they weren’t actually kissing, he had to supress the sudden moan creeping up his throat as the smell of the young beta almost drove him to devour those lips. For the longest of moments, he didn’t move – whether it was because he wasn’t sure if Liam was awake or how he wanted to react to the situation, he couldn’t say for sure.

Eventually, his hands carefully untangled the fingers locked behind his neck, with less urgency than they probably should have. He knew it was stupid, and Liam might wake up at any moment, but Theo selfishly allowed himself to prolong the accidental contact. His eyes were acutely aware of every flutter of the younger boy’s eyelids, watching for signs that he might wake up to find his friend kissing him – well not really, but close enough to be a problem.

Once the beta’s arms were placed back at his side, the chimera gently pulled away from the soft, warm lips underneath his own. He moved slowly, reluctantly, and told himself it was because a sudden move was more likely to wake the werewolf than a cautious withdrawal. When he finally broke the contact, he stared down at the beautiful young man underneath him for a moment before carefully standing up, fingers pressed to the bridge of his nose.

Theo stood by the tent’s entrance, half tempted to sleep outside by the fire, or to just go live in the woods for the rest of his life, rather than sleep beside the werewolf that made him act like a complete idiot. Eventually, he sealed the flap and slumped onto his sleeping bag with a groan. He curled his back defensively to the beta beside him, not because he was scared of him, but rather what he might do to the boy if they were too close together. This became an all-too-real concern when the younger boy rolled over and wrapped his arm around the chimera’s waist.

Theo stopped breathing, which made trying to fall asleep somewhat more difficult. “Fuck me…” he exhaled in a groan, before realising how that could be taken a very different way if Liam had been awake to hear it. He felt like the blood in his face had suddenly turned to molten lava and he buried his head in his pillow.

It was going to be a long weekend…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Insert compulsory thank you message here* Lol just kidding. I love you guys and the support you give me; this was a difficult chapter to write and I sometimes feel like I am losing the thread, but knowing I have people who enjoy my work and are waiting to see what happens next inspires me to power through. Can't wait to hear what you have to say about this chapter :) hope it lives up to expectations.


	10. Instinct

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Theo engage in a little friendly supernatural competition during their camping trip, but letting their wilder sides take over has unintended consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly another quietly received chapter in number 9, but I shant let that get me down again. So here's number 10, and things are getting more serious.

Liam awoke in a state of mild confusion. He groaned softly as consciousness tightened its grip on him. He wasn’t in his bed, but rather on the firm ground. Memories seeped in as the grogginess faded. That’s right, he went camping with Theo – wow that was certainly not something he would ever have imagined thinking to himself. Then he realised he wasn’t in his sleeping bag but rather on top of it, and yet he was very warm.

He forced his eyes to crack open and his vision was flooded by the green haze of morning sunlight passing through the tent walls. As his eyes were still adjusting, he heard, and felt, the breathing that wasn’t his own. Suddenly, he knew why he was so warm and that heat exploded inside him. In a fit of panic, he tried to draw his arms closer to himself defensively and he heard a grunt from the other boy as he was pulled into an accidental bear hug.

The beta froze as dark brown hair was brought under his nose and the scent drowned out all thought. He knew he shouldn’t, but he nuzzled his nose into those soft locks and breathed in, letting the smell wash over him. A soft growl crept up his throat and escaped from his slightly parted lips, and the bright morning light burned his eyes as he felt them shift involuntarily. Brought out of his daze by the discomfort, the werewolf jerked his head back.

Not wanting to wake the sleeping chimera, Liam withdrew his arm from around the older boy slowly. Even though he knew Theo would probably kick his ass six ways from Sunday, he really wanted to squeeze the gorgeous young man as tight as he could and pulling away was a test of sheer will power.

The beta slowly rolled away before sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He rested his head on his knees, looking over at the peaceful chimera in confusion. His moods were like the tide, pushing and pulling the werewolf; one second he would be cold and detached, the next he would be comforting and supportive. After ignoring him for almost a solid week, the chimera suddenly suggested a camping trip and even took the shorter boy stargazing. Liam also realised he didn’t remember returning to their campsite and knew that the older boy must have carried him back. It wasn’t the first time Theo had done so but it still made him blush.

The chimera was an enigma he wasn’t sure he would ever understand, but right now, sleeping without a trace of sadness or cynicism on his face, the beta didn’t care about that. He was with the guy he had finally realised he was crazy about, and he wasn’t going to over think it. Theo had made it clear that all he was offering was friendship, and while that hurt a bit, it was what he needed and the short werewolf was willing to take what he could get.

The chimera in question had rolled onto his back now and his far-too-tight shirt had ridden up, revealing perfect abs. Liam groaned… yeah this was going to be super easy. The werewolf silently slipped out of the tent and stretched his arms and legs, trying to shake off the last remnants of sleep as well as the lurid fantasies filling his mind. He needed something to take his mind off the older boy and decided to take a walk through the woods.

He quickly fired off a text to his mother to let her know they had survived their first night in the wilderness. He then allowed himself to meander between the trees and over small ditches until he eventually reached a ravine. From the edge, he could see the sun lazily crawling its way up the clear blue sky. The short beta climbed up the nearest rock formation before slipping down and watching the flaming orb blazing down on him, burning away all his concerns. He sat hypnotised by the natural splendour of the preserve, letting the time and cares pass him by.

At least that was his plan, until one of his biggest cares set itself upon him. “Morning munchkin,” said the cocky voice a few feet behind him.

Liam felt a smile creep across his face, but he wouldn’t give the arrogant jerk the satisfaction of seeing it, so he didn’t turn around. “Morning jackass,” he replied, but his tone made it obvious he was smiling.

“Now is that anyway to speak to the Prince Charming who carried your drooling ass back to the tent bridal style?” the chimera chided with mock-seriousness.

The beta was glad he still hadn’t turned around because his face went beet red. Sure he knew Theo had done it, but it was still embarrassing to be teased about it. But he wasn’t about to let the snarky bastard get away scot-free. “Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it. Bet you even copped a feel or two while I was all helpless,” he fired back. All he got back from the older boy was silence and Liam wondered if he had actually been onto something, but when he turned around, the chimera was looking up into the sky with no expression on his face at all. Had something happened?

But the chimera broke the silence when he looked down with an odd smile on his face, “You hungry? I got the fire started before I came to look for you; I was thinking scrambled eggs.” At the mention of food there was a mortifying rumble from the werewolf’s stomach and the older boy chuckled in genuine amusement.

“Sounds amazing!” the beta exclaimed as he hopped to his feet. As he was climbing down the boulder, his foot caught on a small protruding rock and he stumbled forward. Even though his enhanced reflexes meant he could easily recover from the disorientation, his human impulse to close his eyes and brace for impact took precedence. But instead of the hard ground he was expected to face-plant into, he landed on something else hard, but the good kind of hard. He couldn’t stop himself from blushing as he leaned back from the muscular chest that had cushioned his fall and he was waiting for the chimera to take full advantage of his clumsy display.

But instead of the teasing he had expected, the chimera reacted with the concern that was becoming unusually familiar lately. “You okay pup?” he asked with real tenderness that only caused the younger boy to blush even harder. Cocky Theo he was used to; he knew how to handle that. But caring Theo was still a stranger to him, and unfortunately he was the kind of tall, dark, mysterious stranger you couldn’t help but be drawn to.

“Yeah, sorry,” he stammered. The older boy was so close and his hands were still on the small of Liam’s back from reaching out to catch him. “Um, did you just call me pup?” he asked as the comment finally caught up with him when the blood rushing to his head had let up a little bit. Now it was Theo’s turn to blush, and the beta was surprised by how adorable he looked when it happened. He didn’t mean to make the chimera uncomfortable but it seemed he was equally caught off-guard by the comment.

The older boy’s hands quickly dropped away from the werewolf’s body, and he was suddenly a bit regretful that he had spoken at all instead of just staring into those big blue eyes, which now seemed to want to look anywhere but at him. “I guess it just kinda slipped out. I didn’t mean to make fun of you or anything; I’ll try not to do it again,” Theo explained, seeming genuinely distressed by his lack of filter.

“I don’t feel insulted,” the werewolf chuckled a bit at how awkward the older boy was suddenly acting, as though all that bravado he normally wrapped himself in had been torn away he was feeling naked without it. “It’s honestly a step up from munchkin, so I’ll take it,” he smiled and attempted to mollify the chimera’s strange nervousness with a wink; however, this only seemed to have the opposite effect and Theo turned away abruptly.

“Let’s get back before the fire gets too low to cook with,” he stated brusquely before starting to walk back the way they had come. Liam frowned but followed in silence, staring at the taller boy’s back, noticing how his muscles contracted and expanded but never seemed to relax. It probably wasn’t wise to be flirting with the chimera since it obviously seemed to make him uncomfortable and the beta made a mental note to try and control his foolish impulses. Just because he liked Theo didn’t mean the sullen teen liked him back, and it was unfair to make him feel weird about their friendship. It didn’t help that he was so damn cute when he was flustered or when being uncertain while attempting to be considerate.

_Just my luck that the first guy I fall for has to be someone I can’t have_ , Liam bemoaned silently to himself. But as he trailed behind the guy he was losing his mind over, the chemo signals drifting back towards him were confusing. Theo was… happy but he was also sad. For a moment the werewolf thought his senses were just confused by his hormones, which always seemed to go wild when he smelled the sexy young man, but the longer he walked behind the chimera the clearer the impression became – Theo seemed to be feeling guilty that he was feeling pleasure.

The pair arrived back at the campsite and the older boy immediately set to work preparing their breakfast. “Is there something I can do?” the beta offered in an attempt to both break the uncomfortable silence that was dragging out between them and give himself something to take his mind off the conundrum that was Theo Raeken.

“Sure. Did your mom pack something to drink? If not, the stream is clean so you could get water from it,” the chimera inquired. He looked oddly domestic bustling around the fire with a pan in his hand. It was a sight Liam would never have thought it possible to imagine, let alone see, but seeing Theo be more than he thought he was had become the new norm and the beta revelled in learning everything he could about the older boy.

Liam rummaged through the basket and produced a carton of apple juice – Theo’s favourite – and he wasn’t even annoyed that, as per usual, his mother seemed to be spoiling the new boy in her life. He poured some into a paper cup before offering it to Theo. The chimera absentmindedly took it and started sipping as he cooked the delicious-smelling eggs. The beta sipped at his own cup of juice as he sat back and watched. The occasional awkward moment aside, he was enjoying the trip so far and was looking forward to what the day might hold. “So do you have any idea what we should do today oh great woodsman?” he teased the older boy. “Your night plans will be pretty hard to top though; those stars were incredible,” he added with a smile, which only broadened when he saw Theo turn around with a smile of his own, obviously glad that he had impressed his friend.

“Well I can’t promise it will be as spectacular, but I was thinking we could take a little hike up the big hill. It has some really nice streams running down it and the view from the top is pretty cool,” the older boy proposed as he scooped out some eggs onto the paper plates he had set beside the fire. He offered up one of the plates to Liam and added, “Unless, of course, you’re not as confident in the woods as you are on an open lacrosse field?”

The werewolf’s eyes glinted at the challenge in the chimera’s voice. He had sometimes wondered what it would be like to take on the bigger teen on the field; he had fought Theo a few times and left him bloody more than once, but he always felt like the cocky young hybrid was holding back, as though he didn’t need to give his all when fighting the beta. “Oh I can handle anything you can Raeken. In fact, let’s make it interesting. I’ll race you to the top of the hill,” he challenged as he dug into his eggs, not bothering to supress the appreciative moan as the flavour flooded his senses.

“Well now, that hardly seems fair since I am still recovering from saving your ass,” the chimera threw back teasingly, but his smile faded when he saw how guilty Liam suddenly looked. He was stupid to make such a challenge without thinking of Theo’s condition, but not thinking things through was basically his trademark move. “Hey, I’m just kidding dude,” the older boy quickly reassured him. “To be honest, it actually sounds kinda fun. Deaton told me not to use my powers for a while so I don’t overstress my body, but I’ve been aching to just let loose. And I can think of no one I’d rather do that with than you,” he professed vehemently, but then suddenly looked down at his food as though he had said something he regretted.

The beta was confused by this dichotomous reaction that had been Theo’s trademark move lately. He would constantly say things that seemed perfectly normal, maybe even playful sometimes, then act as though he had said something totally inappropriate. Not wanting to deter the older boy, Liam decided to just go with the flow, “All right then. But we need some sort of wager to make it worthwhile. I play to win and there’s no point winning if there’s no glory.” He had a cocky grin on his face to match any he had ever seen the chimera express.

“What did you have in mind?” the handsome hybrid asked, still not seeming entirely sure that he should really be going through with this, but his pride wouldn’t let him back down and the werewolf wasn’t ashamed to take advantage of that.

“Well… if I win, you have to actually watch my lacrosse practice and cheer like a giddy fangirl when I score a goal,” he smirked diabolically at his friend whose uncertain features suddenly hardened into determination. Liam had been kind of upset that, when Theo attended his practices, he never seemed interested in watching the boy play, even when he was deliberately showboating to impress the older teen. “Oh and if I don’t shower after practice, you can’t bitch and moan that I stink on the way home,” he added with a shit-eating grin. He knew how upset the chimera got when he “stank up” his truck and, for some reason, getting the sexy asshole angry gave the beta a weird thrill.

Theo’s expression shifted again, getting slightly wide-eyed. Liam assumed it was out of concern for his precious truck. “So what do I get if I win?” he asked after a bit of a pause.

“Anything you want,” the werewolf declared confidently. He was certain he was stronger than the chimera at the best of times, and even though it was a bit dirty, he knew he could beat him in his weakened condition. But if it gave him the chance to impress the guy he liked, he was willing to get a little dirty.

Theo finished his breakfast in silence. He then proceeded to tidy up the campsite, put out the fire and secure the tent. Liam began to worry that he had pushed the older boy a bit too hard and was scared he may have ruined the chance to have a fun day. Instead, Theo turned around with a fire in his eyes and said, “Deal.”

“So… what do you want if you win?” the beta asked, suddenly a little unsure when he saw the expression on the larger boy’s face.

“Beat me and you won’t have to worry about it,” the chimera replied with a cocky smirk. “And don’t feel bad about using your powers; I play to win too, and I won’t be holding back,” he challenged with such confidence that Liam began to wonder if he had made a horrible mistake. _No, it would be fine_ , he told himself; he knew he was stronger than the chimera.

With the camp secured, the pair moved towards a small clearing a few dozen metres away. “So where exactly are we going?” the werewolf asked, hoping he sounded confident.

“See that hill over there?” Theo asked, pointing to a large hill peeking over the treeline. “That’s the finish line. You can use any powers you want and take any route you like.”

Liam peered at the small peak. The hill wasn’t particularly high, but it seemed to be a fair distance away. “All right, I’m gonna take you out Raeken!” he proclaimed as he puffed out his chest and tried to make himself bigger next to the tall muscular teen.

The chimera turned around, presenting the beta with his fully shifted visage – glowing amber eyes, fangs peeking past his soft full lips, thick hair running down the sides of his face. It had been a while since the beta had seen him go all out and he couldn’t help but notice that he no longer felt any fear when he saw the older boy like this; in fact, he felt exhilarated and the wolf inside him keened to be let out to run alongside the beautiful and powerful creature looking at him.

Theo just smiled, which should have looked awkward or even sinister with his fangs on display, but Liam found it weirdly sexy. “I hope you’re taking me somewhere nice then. I have expensive taste pup,” he taunted the werewolf.

The striking figure of the gracefully dangerous chimera, coupled with the way he had twisted the beta’s declaration into a date proposal, totally threw the younger boy off and he could barely get out a “Wha…?” before he realised that Theo was already blurring into the trees towards the goal. “Oh my God, of course he plays dirty!” Liam shouted with a laugh as he chased after the distant figure.

The world turned into a kaleidoscope of greens, browns, greys and blues as the pair dashed through the woods with supernatural speed. The beta had fully shifted now too and was pushing himself trying to catch up with the chimera, who was shockingly quick for someone with wolf's bane still coursing through their veins; but then again, he wasn’t a werewolf so it was foolish of Liam to think that would give him such an advantage.

The short wolf huffed and puffed as he reached the bottom of the target hill, but he couldn’t afford to stop or even slow down as he saw the figure darting between the trees on the side of the slope. Liam was built for bursts of power; he was extremely strong and could probably take Theo in a straight up fight. But the older boy was smart and had thrown him off using guile, and was now showing that he was also a lot faster than the beta. Liam cursed himself for underestimating the cunning hybrid.

Charging up the hill, the werewolf was spurred on by his competitive spirit and the fact that he really wanted the prize. He wanted more time around Theo; he wanted the older boy’s eyes on him; he wanted to impress him. Simply put, he needed the chimera to be a bigger part of his life. Adrenaline surged through the beta’s body as he got his second wind, and before he realised it, he could see the chimera in front of him. The older boy was about to crest the top of the hill and Liam pushed himself like never before.

The werewolf let out a howl but it wasn’t of frustration; it was of desire, and he knew it wasn’t simply the desire to catch up to Theo, it was the desire to catch him. The sound caused the chimera to falter and look behind him, both with surprise that the beta was so close and with curiosity as to why he was howling. But before either thought could fully form, the wolf had tackled him and they were rolling over the grass.

Normally, Theo would have reacted to such an attack with a ruthless counterblow, but no part of him felt threatened as the young beta barrelled into him. He felt safe with Liam, even when the boy was about to explode with rage. As the pair came skidding to a halt on the grass, the larger boy managed to pin down the smaller one with a grin on his face. “I win!” he declared triumphantly, his eyes glowing with such delight that Liam wanted to grab his face and pull it closer.

“You cheated!” the wolf complained as he struggled against the muscular beast holding him down.

“Hey, I said anything goes,” the older boy laughed as he shifted his weight to keep Liam under him.

“Oh yeah?” the beta shot back, “well in that case…” And he pulled a manoeuvre that Theo should have been expecting after seeing how the lithe, diminutive boy flipped around the lacrosse field. In a swift movement, the werewolf had lifted the chimera into the air by bucking his hips and he slipped down between the larger boy’s legs, coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around Theo’s chest before spinning around and pushing him to the ground face first.

“Ooooof!” the older boy gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. He had forgotten that Liam was ridiculously strong for his size. He growled, but it wasn’t menacing; something primal inside him was stirring and the shorter boy could feel it. He growled back as they each struggled for dominance.

Theo managed to wrap his left leg around Liam’s and launched himself so that they rolled over and he was lying on top of the beta. It was then that he realised the young wolf was excited in more ways than one. There was a pressure pushing up against his lower body and part of him wanted to roll away and diffuse the situation, but that rational part of his mind didn’t have dibs on his body as the beast let out a pleased purr. He slid off of Liam and crouched on all fours as the werewolf mirrored his pose.

“So,” the younger boy growled playfully, “what is it that you want?”

“What do I want?” Theo asked in confusion, his usual quickness of thought muddled by pure animal instinct.

Liam was feeling it too, but unlike the older boy, he wasn’t trying to fight it. He wanted to press himself up against the powerful body that had just been holding him down. “Yes. You won, even if you cheated. So what do you want?” he asked again as reared up onto two legs, still crouched in a mock-aggressive stance.

“I want…” the chimera began but then the beta was lunging at him. He danced to the side with a laugh. Now that he was prepared, he wasn’t going to let the Herculean little wolf land a solid blow on him again.

“Tell me!” Liam growled again, but there was no anger in it. The only emotion he was radiating now was need. He needed Theo, on top of him or under him, it didn’t matter at this point.

“What I want…” the older boy said again, shaking his head as though trying to dislodge a thought that had been buried behind a thick wall whose mortar was suddenly crumbling under the beta’s relentless assault.

The werewolf pounced again, but this time he was prepared for the chimera to dodge, and as he landed, he spun around and grabbed at the larger boy. But Theo was prepared too; as the younger boy reached for him, he locked their arms together and used the momentum to pull the beta off balance. As he stumbled forward, the chimera spun him around and pinned him to a tree with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

“Liam… I want…” Theo’s predatory eyes were almost blinding now. The glow was more intense than anything Liam had ever seen. Even Scott’s alpha eyes could not enthral him so completely. The chimera’s breath was burning his skin and his body ached under the pressure of the wall of muscle pressing him against the wood. And for the first time since meeting Theo, Liam could read his scent clearly and the weeks of confusion suddenly coalesced into a pristinely clear understanding. The older boy was... aroused.

With his body still winded by the force of the chimera defeating him, all he could manage with the small amount of breath he had left was a ghostly whisper, “D-do you want… me?”

Theo let out a groan and it put the werewolf in mind of a floodgate, rusted shut by decades of disuse, slowly being forced open to let out a trickle and then a torrent. The groan evolved into a deep, throaty growl that made the beta’s entire body tingle, but then it was suddenly replaced by an angry roar.

But Liam realised the roar wasn’t directed at himself and he looked down to see a crossbow bolt protruding from his companion’s side. His eyes snapped back up to Theo’s, which were still golden but without the glow that had so entranced him only moments ago. Then the werewolf heard the sounds of boots crunching on grass and twigs, and cursed himself for not being more attentive.

“Well, well, well. It seems when the alpha is away, the beta will play,” came the singsong jeer of a nasal male voice as a quartet of hunters crested the grassy knoll, crossbows levelled at the young supernaturals, who had now all but forgotten the uncontrollable emotions that had left them so vulnerable to attack.

“Monroe will be thrilled when we bring her your head…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the few people who commented on chapter 9. Hope chapter 10 is a good continuation. I decided to experiment a bit with werewolf shifts. I've always kinda liked the idea of the werewolf form being something that the boys find attractive in each other both instinctively and aesthetically so hope my weirdness pays off :)


	11. Schism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Theo confront the hunters in the woods.  
> Then they confront each other.  
> Neither confrontation goes as well as it could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't meet my self-imposed weekend deadline. This chapter was like wrestling with a mastodon or giving birth to a full-grown porcupine D: I had to squeeze a lot of different things into one chapter, and even though it is bigger than usual, I'm still not sure it is thorough enough. Hope it all makes sense and you guys (and gals) enjoy it.

Theo hit the ground with a sickening crunch, cursing his own stupidity for allowing himself to become so distracted that he overlooked the obvious. He had known something was off the previous night, even without his senses at peak. But he had had Liam in his arms and he had let that consume his thoughts. The beta made him act like a fool; and that was only reinforced by the fact that he had allowed his chimera to take over so completely while they were running and he had almost done something he knew he shouldn’t. Being around Liam was dangerous, for both of them.

**Earlier…**

Liam was pressed up against him and, no matter how much his mind protested, his body wanted nothing more than to take what was practically being offered to him. The older boy had almost gone into shock when he realised what the beta had said, all rational thought being drowned out as his animal side roared with desire. He was actually grateful to the hunters when the crossbow bolt sank into his flesh and pulled the beast’s attention elsewhere. But he wasn’t so grateful that he was going to forgive them when they threatened to kill the werewolf under his body.

Theo was able to grab the younger boy just in time as he instinctively charged at the hunters, his rage no longer simply churning beneath the surface. Liam roared in frustration and the hunters fired without reservation. The chimera dragged the young wolf, who was even more aggressive than usual, as he ducked behind the tree he had just been pinning the shorter boy against.

“There are only four of them! We can take them,” the beta growled as claws scratched at the older boys arms.

“There are only four… that we can see,” Theo replied through gritted teeth as he pulled the bloodthirsty teen, heading towards the slope of the hill.

“So what’s the plan then, we just run away?” the younger boy spat in frustration.

“Yes,” was all the chimera said before shoving the werewolf forwards, causing him to tumble down the hill. He would be even angrier when he hit the bottom, but he would be safe, and maybe if he were angry at Theo, he wouldn’t be so bloodthirsty.

The older teen turned to see the hunters confidently approaching him. They clearly assumed the wolf’s bane on the crossbow bolt still embedded in his side would have weakened him. And while his chimera nature did make him resilient to it, he was strangely not feeling anything at all besides the dull ache of physical pain. Not about to give away this trump card, he collapsed to the ground groaning and growling defensively.

The hunters foolishly got closer, weapons raised but stances more relaxed. “Poor little wolfy. Don’t worry, we will put you out of your misery, but your friend won’t be so lucky. We will be taking him back to Monroe so she can take her sweet time dealing with him. Maybe even use him as bait to draw in your alpha – make him scream and cry in pain calling for his alpha to save him and then we’ll make the little beta watch as we kill him before we put him down too,” the bastard taunted as he got closer, probably thinking that shooting a werewolf up close somehow made him look braver.

Theo was burning inside. It felt like there was something clawing its way through his skin trying to reach this so-called human who was threatening his… he had to remind himself quickly not to think of Liam that way, things had already gotten too dangerous because of his foolishness. He looked up at those arrogant, inhumane eyes and managed to force a look of fear to cover his face. Whatever the younger boy was to him, he wasn’t about to let anyone hurt him.

As the hunter came to a stop in front of the chimera, crossbow just a few inches from his head, Theo’s expression suddenly turned predatory. “I guess nobody told you,” he began ominously, “but I’m not a werewolf.” The crossbow bolt whizzed through the now vacant air, piercing the ground with a dull thud, followed by the much louder thud of the hunter joining it. Before the remaining three hunters could recover from their shock, the chimera was behind them, hamstringing them with razor-sharp claws.

He removed and destroyed their weapons as they tried to crawl away from him and was surprised by his own actions; nobody was watching him or judging him – he could have easily killed the hunters and the pack would probably never know. He was taken aback that his first impulse now was to disarm and incapacitate rather than to kill. But his killer instinct was still very much intact, and he turned around as the first hunter was scrambling to his feet and drawing a handgun from his waist. Theo was on him before he could raise the weapon, knocking him back down before grabbing a clawed handful of his hair.

“How many of you are out here?” he snarled as he pulled the man’s bloodied face closer to his own. Unlike Liam, this human found the fanged monstrosity before him to be anything but attractive.

The man’s split lips turned upwards in a smirk, and the chimera wondered if he looked so repulsive when he did that. “You’re not getting out of here alive monster,” the man declared smugly. “After we spotted you two fags last night, we called for a little backup. You’re as good as dead,” he laughed.

“I survived hell; I think I can handle a few of Monroe’s goons,” the hybrid growled before slamming the man’s head into the ground, leaving him an unconscious, bloody mess.

Theo grabbed the bolt protruding from his abdomen and snapped it in half before pushing the shaft until the head broke through the skin on his back. He gritted his teeth as pain wracked his body but he removed the obstruction so that he could begin healing. The chimera then focused his hearing to locate the unruly werewolf and make sure he wasn’t getting himself into trouble. He could hear heartbeats, too many heartbeats. He focused harder, straining his senses to their limits. He had to force himself not to hold his own breath anxiously, so as not to flood his hearing with his own heart beating frantically with worry.

At last, he heard it. The heartbeat that he knew belonged to only one person. He couldn’t discern any real difference between any of the other heartbeats – but this was the one he fell asleep listening to last night, the one he listened to as it broke when his alpha left, the one that skipped a few beats as he watched the stars fill the night sky. He would know Liam’s heartbeat in a crowd of a thousand people, because it was the heart he strived to be worthy of, even though he knew he never would be. But keeping it beating was all that mattered.

The werewolf wasn’t at the base of the hill anymore; he was now a few hundred metres away, and there were half a dozen other heartbeats near him. Theo could no longer stop his own heart from beating faster. As had become so common wherever the young beta was involved, the older boy reacted without even thinking. He sprinted down the hillside, deftly avoiding trees and rocks as they blurred past.

The wolf’s bane should have been slowing him down, but he was moving fast, faster even than he had been able to for the past week. His powers were back at full strength somehow, and the new dose of wolf’s bane was not having any effect on him, as though his body had somehow built up an immunity after the excessive overdose he had survived.

He arrived at the glade near their camp in half the time it had taken him to reach the hill. It was overrun with hunters, but there was no sign of Liam. Perhaps, for once, the younger boy had used his head and not tried to take on an army by himself. Theo tuned in to the sound that felt like it belonged to him. The young wolf was nearby, and he was safe, but not for long. A smaller group of hunters was tracking him.

The chimera followed the sounds and scents, desperate to catch up as quickly as he could. He found the short wolf near the stargazing rock; he was perched in a tall tree above the small group of hunters. His heart rate was increasing and Theo could hear the younger boy growling. He knew it was only a matter of moments before the beta’s rage got the better of him.

“Liam,” the older boy said softly, hoping the werewolf’s agitated state would make his hearing more sensitive. He was rewarded with a slight stutter in the beta’s heartbeat.

“Theo?” came the whispered reply, so low that the chimera could barely hear it even when focusing.

“I’m here, just sit tight. Don’t do anything stupid,” Theo instructed, and he could hear the boy snort in frustrated annoyance.

“Why, so you can do something stupid instead – like pushing me down a hill and then facing four hunters by yourself?” the younger boy hissed, and Theo had to admit: that was pretty stupid.

“Just… just trust me okay?” the chimera insisted, his voice a little more strained than he had intended.

“I trust you Theo, always…” the beta assured, and the older boy’s breath hitched in his throat.

Theo took stock of the situation. It wouldn’t be long before the hunters realised where their quarry had taken refuge, so he needed to act fast. The men and women were spread out tactically, armed with crossbows and rifles. He wouldn’t be able to engage them without a distraction, and he’d sooner go back into the pit than let Liam be that distraction.

It was literally the oldest trick in the book, and he felt like an idiot for even considering it, but maybe these hunters weren’t as clever as they thought. The chimera reached for a large rock and hefted it to his shoulder. He would get maybe a few seconds from this but it would have to be enough. The rock flew through the air into a bush, creating a loud rustle. The hunters turned with weapons poised at the ready… all but one.

Theo exploded from his concealed position and had the two nearest hunters on the ground with several broken bones before anyone could react. As he acquired his next target, he realised that one of the hunters had been expecting his ambush and was aiming a rifle directly at him, finger already squeezing down on the trigger. Even his speed wouldn’t be enough to dodge the bullet, and he gritted his teeth in anticipation of the pain as he readied himself to charge the man.

Both the hunter and his prey were surprised to hear the roar as a second werewolf descended from above to crumple the rifle-wielding man to the ground. The older boy would need to have words with the beta about doing as he was told, but first he had to eliminate the remaining threats. He turned to the man and two women who had now recovered from their distraction. The chimera darted low along the ground, knowing that most werewolves instinctively launched themselves at their attackers; this meant the hunters had to readjust their sights for a lower target and that was all the advantage he needed.

The two nearest hunters were on the ground clutching at their ripped, bleeding legs. Theo rolled sideways as bullets peppered the spot he had just vacated. But as he was about to take down the last remaining female hunter, another roar penetrated the air – this time, one of pain. He involuntarily turned his head to see that the man Liam had taken down had managed to sink a knife into the younger boy’s side, and the chimera was struck by a sudden fit of panic, hoping that it wasn’t laced in wolf’s bane.

A tearing pain ripped at his abdomen as a bullet went right through him. He turned with eyes now consumed by animal instinct, the pain of his wounds coupled with concern over the beta undermining his rational, tactical thoughts. He pounced towards the huntress, but his airborne assault left him wide open. He landed on her chest and clawed at her arms, making sure she wouldn’t be able to hold a gun, perhaps ever again.

With the last of the hunters dispatched, he turned to see the short werewolf removing the knife, his attacker definitely neutralised this time. The older boy sighed in relief, then groaned as the adrenaline and bestial rage subsided and the blood flowing from the multiple bullet wounds he had just incurred became impossible to ignore. He collapsed to the ground with a curse.

**Now…**

Theo was in utter darkness; he tried to open his eyes, but it was still pitch black. He began to panic, his heartbeat rising; he braced himself to hear that cold, echoing voice calling his name.

“Theo…” the voice echoed, but it was… different. “Theo…” it repeated, and it was deeper than he remembered. “Theo!” the voice was angry this time, but not malicious. “Wake up you idiot!” the voice screamed in his ear, and he couldn’t help but smile in response.

“I’m awake, I’m awake,” the chimera groaned as he tried to sit up. But a hand quickly pressed him down, firmly but with gentle reassurance.

“I said wake up, not get up dumbass,” Liam chided.

Theo wanted to argue, but his body was happy to obey. “What happened?” he asked as he ran his hand over his bloodied body, checking his wounds.

“Well, we managed to take out that group of hunters. And by we, I mean you mostly,” the beta explained with a mix of pride and annoyance. “But the gunfire no doubt attracted the rest of those assholes, so I carried you here. Don’t ask me exactly where here is, but it’s a cave I managed to find. I would have liked to get further away, but I had to take extra time trying to cover our tracks. I’m not sure how well I did; I’m not the survivalist you are” he continued, the worry clear in his voice.

“I'm sure you did fine,” the older boy assured. He counted five bullet wounds in his body, two of which were still inside. He extended his claws and activated his night vision as he dug them into the wounds, growling at the pain.

“What are you doing?” the werewolf gasped, reaching out to stop Theo from hurting himself.

“I have to get the bullets out so I can heal. I’m no use to you in my current state,” the chimera explained through gritted teeth as he managed to get his claws around the bullet. It landed on the ground a few seconds later with a faint tinkle.

“O-okay,” the younger boy relented, but his voice was filled with fear and concern, and the smell was permeating the air.

“You need to calm down pup,” Theo said, again using that word that came far too instinctively and chided himself internally. However, it seemed to help the beta relax, so he couldn’t be too annoyed at himself. “We will be fine, trust me. Once I have the bullets out, we can see where we are and make a plan,” he reassured the younger boy as he dug his claws into the other wound with a gasp.

The second bullet joined the first with a tinkle on the rocks as the chimera pulled himself upright. He could already feel his body healing. If the bullets had been laced with wolf’s bane, it didn’t seem to be slowing the process down. Even with his infrared vision, it was hard to see in the dark but he could see the blood on Liam’s shirt and he could smell that it was fresh.

“You’re not healing,” he stated more than asked, as he reached out to touch the beta’s side with clawless fingers.

“Yeah, I noticed,” the younger boy growled gently at the pressure. “The knife must have been coated with wolf’s bane, but it didn’t go in that deep, and it didn’t hit anything vital. So it will heal eventually, and it won’t slow me down that much,” he added as his hand came to rest on top of Theo’s, squeezing gently. “It’s you I am worried about. I don’t wanna see you in hospital again like last time… I can’t…” he whispered.

“Don’t worry; that didn’t kill me and this certainly won’t. It barely hurts,” the older boy lied. He stood up with a grunt and felt an arm wrap around his waist, keeping him steady. He was grateful for the help, but he wished the werewolf were anywhere but here – in danger, yet again, because of Theo; because he did a shitty job of protecting him.

The pair moved towards the cave entrance. It was now a little after noon and the sun was blazing down threateningly. The chimera never thought he’d want to see the moon so badly.

“So what now?” Liam asked nervously.

“We need to get back to my truck, but we can’t go out in the daylight; we’d be sitting ducks. We’ll have to wait until it starts to get dark then take advantage of our better night vision,” Theo advised. If there was one thing he knew, it was how to exploit a weakness or capitalise on an advantage. “I assume they’ve set up cell phone jammers too, so calling for help won’t be an option,” he added as an afterthought.

“Yeah, that would explain why I couldn’t get a signal. I thought it might just be the rocks around here messing with it. So what, we just wait until it gets dark?” the younger boy asked in a voice that was clearly trying to mask his rising panic.

The chimera pulled the shorter boy closer and wrapped his arms around him. “I won’t ever let anything happen to you Liam,” he stated with such vehemence that the young beta stop trembling. Theo just wished he knew how he was going to do it. The hunters would almost certainly have set an ambush for them at the truck, and neither of them was in any condition to run all the way home.

Liam leaned his head against the taller boy’s chest and it was obvious that he was listening to his heart, as though it calmed him the same way that the beta’s heartbeat calmed the older boy. Theo couldn’t help himself and reached a hand up to run his fingers through the werewolf’s hair, which was damp with sweat.

The young wolf let out a soft sigh and tightened his grip around the chimera’s waist. “I don’t want anything to happen to you either Theo,” he whispered into the older boy’s chest. Theo’s hand came to a rest behind Liam’s neck and he did something he knew he shouldn’t, but there was a good chance at least one of them wasn’t going to survive this and he wasn’t willing to die without knowing.

He squeezed the beta’s neck softly to get his attention and the shorter boy look up with those magnificent blue eyes of his. The distance between their faces was barely measurable, but as the chimera closed it, it felt as though he were leaping across the Grand Canyon. The fear of falling was all too real, and he knew that he couldn’t afford to, but he had to know what the other side looked like, if only for a moment.

Their lips touched and the world ended. The world of darkness Theo had lived in for so long was suddenly flooded with light – radiant, burning hot light – but instead of pulling away like he had so many times before, he allowed himself to bask in it. The warmth was only intensified by the friction of the gentle vibration on his lips as the younger boy moaned softly against his body.

This didn’t last long, however, as the beta squeezed him tighter with that insane strength of his, as though demanding that every ounce of his being be put into the kiss. And the soft moan turned into a deep growl that caused both their bodies to shudder with desire. Liam was pulling him now, until he had the short wolf pressed up against the cave wall. Hands were raking through his hair, grabbing tufts and pulling on them as his lips were kissed, licked and nipped at hungrily.

His beast was tired from his earlier exertions, but now it grumbled appreciatively as the taste of the werewolf filled his mouth and the smell of sweaty, horny teenager drowned out that of blood and despair. He grabbed Liam by the waist and lifted him, no longer wanting to crane his neck to access that delicious mouth. The boy responded by wrapping his legs around the chimera and Theo could feel his excitement pressing against his stomach.

He wanted to pull away now, satisfied in the knowledge that Liam was everything he had ever imagined he would be, and so much more, but the flames of his desire had been stoked now and dousing them seemed like an impossible task. The beta leaned his head back, presenting his soft smooth neck to the chimera, who hungrily pressed his lips to it. He kissed him softly at first, but then with more urgency, his own body demanding that he do more. But as he felt his beast coming to the surface, his fangs extending and his eyes glowing, he knew he had to pull back. The desire to bite the young werewolf was too strong, and he couldn’t risk ruining the boy’s life.

Liam, however, saw the sudden break in the assault on his body as a chance to take control, and he did so eagerly. He dropped from the older boy’s now slackened arms and spun him around, pressing Theo up against the wall as he lifted his shirt, exposing the perfect body underneath. The beta wasted no time in getting to his knees and running his tongue up between those abs. The chimera thought the smatterings of blood and still healing wounds would deter the shorter boy, but he was oblivious, seemingly drunk on the older boy’s scent.

The werewolf growled hungrily as he tasted the hybrid, his tongue moving higher up from his abs and onto his pecs. Theo leaned back against the wall, groaning in unadulterated pleasure. Liam was incredible, and this seemed too unreal. The short-tempered boy with a heart of pure gold wanted him, and it seemed he wanted him almost as badly as the chimera wanted him in return. That, in itself, should have been enough to make the older boy worry. He wasn’t the kind of person Liam deserved, but right now he didn’t care.

But as the young beta worked his way up to Theo’s neck, now exposed as he had leaned his head back, the older boy’s concern returned with a vengeance. He could feel the werewolf’s fangs on his neck, pressing against his skin, and he quickly lowered his chin, trying to cover the vulnerability. This elicited a growl of frustration from the younger boy, who tried to push Theo up against the wall harder. But the chimera now used his awakened beast for something else; he grabbed the wolf firmly and pushed him back, growling in return.

“Stop Liam! You mustn’t,” he warned with eyes flashing. For a second the beta looked as though he were about to attack, but he shook his head and his features returned to their human form.

“What? Why? Did I do something wrong?” Liam asked in confusion, a bit hurt by the sudden rejection when everything seemed to be going so well.

“Just… stop,” Theo repeated, trying to get his own animal side under control, cursing himself for allowing things to go so far. “We can’t do this,” he stated with a tone of finality. But upon seeing the pain in the young wolf’s beautiful eyes, he relented slightly and added softly, “Not here and now.”

Liam hesitated but then nodded as though he understood what the older boy meant; they needed to stay alert. They weren’t out of the woods yet – literally or metaphorically.

“I guess you’re right,” the shorter boy agreed reluctantly, though it was obvious in his eyes that he would have faced a hundred hunters for just five more seconds of what they had just been doing. That was all the proof Theo needed to know that he had done the right thing by stopping him before things went too far.

“We should get some rest,” the chimera advised as he took one last look out into the forest, focusing his vision and hearing to make sure there was nothing too nearby, before he turned around and headed back into the cave.

The werewolf followed him somewhat sullenly, and it took all of the older boy’s willpower not to turn around and pull the hurt young man into his arms and do everything he could to take away the pain. This was for the best; he had already failed to protect Liam because he was too caught up in his feelings for the boy. The best way to keep him safe was from a distance.

The two young men moved a bit deeper into the darkness and, using his supernatural vision, Theo found a spot that looked at least somewhat comfortable. He slid down to the ground with his legs stretched out before him and let out a huff of emotional enervation, sexual frustration and physical exhaustion. This whole weekend had not gone the way he had planned at all.

The warm body of the werewolf settled beside him, close but with enough distance between them to show how uncertain he was about what was happening between them. The chimera sighed softly, “You should take this time to sleep a bit and recover your energy. We’ll both need to be ready to move when the sun sets,” he advised the shorter boy.

“I’m fine, really. You are more hurt than I am,” the beta argued. “Please, let me do something for you for once. You sleep and I’ll keep watch,” he suggested fervently.

Theo couldn’t deny that he was tired, in so many ways, but he didn’t want Liam to take risks for him. “Liam, I…” he began to counter-argue, but the young wolf growled and cut him off.

“Let me be a little less ambiguous. You are going to sleep even if I have to knock you out myself. You were dragging your feet on the way back here and I can hear your breathing. You are exhausted and your body is barely holding together. Now get some rest and I will be here when you wake up, got it!?” Liam exploded and the older boy was taken aback. It had been awhile since the beta had actually been angry at him, but it felt strange to have the younger boy be angry at him because he was being selfless – wasn’t that what their pack was all about?

“All right, all right. You don’t have to go all medieval on my ass. I’ll rest, if it makes you happy,” the chimera relented with a soft chuckle. He tried to get comfortable against the hard rocks and damp ground but it wasn’t easy.

After fussing for a few minutes he felt a pair of hands grab him firmly and topple him over, his head landing on something soft. He blushed in the darkness when he realised it was Liam’s lap. He tried to slide off and just sleep beside the young wolf, who was practically thrumming with annoyance now, but the hand on his shoulder held him like a vice.

Theo laid like that for a few minutes, thinking about the werewolf that he had fallen for, despite his best efforts not to. The boy was obstinate, belligerent, irrational, reckless, clumsy, brave, funny, smart, cute and just plain beautiful. As he thought back on all the times Liam had annoyed him, or surprised him, or made him smile, darkness crept back into his world and he fell asleep.

**A few hours later…**

Theo jerked awake at the sound of Liam hissing his name urgently, “Theo wake up! There’s something happening out there. I can hear… dogs?”

The chimera quickly sat up, feeling a lot better than he had when he fell asleep. His wounds had almost completely healed and his mind felt clear. He focused his hearing sharply on the woods outside the cave, and the beta was right, there were dogs barking outside. It was very unusual for hunters to rely on anything but their own skills when tracking werewolves. Dogs were loud and attracted too much attention, both from the prey they were meant to hunt and from any passers-by that may be in the area.

“Something’s not right,” the older boy mused as he made his way to the cave entrance. The sun was now setting outside and he could see torch lights in the woods. Also unusual for hunters, unless they were so ill-funded that they couldn’t afford military-grade night vision equipment. He honed his hearing and tried to cut out the annoying yapping of the canines.

“Dispatch, this is Unit 3; still no sign of the boys. There is evidence of a struggle here though. Moving to grid 8-C,” a husky female voice carried through the air.

“I-I think… it’s a search party,” Theo breathed out in relief. “Why the heck would there be a search party out here? Unless maybe the gunfire drew a lot of attention…” he wondered to himself. But before he could dwell on it much longer, he heard footsteps outside the cave and he immediately shifted. “Careful! There’s someone outside,” he hissed as his claws extended.

Liam followed suit but hesitated when they heard the voice, “Hello? Is someone in there? This is Deputy Parrish with the Beacon County Sheriff’s Department.”

The young beta bolted past Theo at the sound of the familiar voice and flew into the deputy. “Jordan!” he shouted in relief as he ran into the deputy and wrapped his arm around him. “Thank God it’s you.” The older boy had to control the sudden impulse to growl possessively, knowing he had no right to be feeling that way.

“Liam, thank heavens you’re safe. Is Theo with you?” the hellhound asked worriedly.

“I’m here Parrish,” the chimera drawled as he sauntered out of the cave. He may have let Liam see him rattled and vulnerable, but he’d be damned if anyone else did.

“Good, you’re both safe. Mrs Geyer… Your mom called us this afternoon saying she couldn’t get hold of you and insisted someone come check what was going on. When I arrived, I found your truck and also some unexpected guests,” the lawman explained. “Obviously they weren’t expecting to run into something that wasn’t a werewolf,” he chuckled a bit nervously, “so when they realised their weapons weren’t working, they bolted. I called for backup and we have been looking for you guys ever since. I guess I should be happy you were so hard to find.”

The werewolf was visibly trembling with relief and the older boy wished he could have taken care of the boy emotionally and not just physically. But he knew he couldn’t do both; and given the choice, he would protect Liam’s life. Monroe had to pay for what she had done; and he had to pay for once again letting the beta get hurt on his watch.

Things were a bit of a blur after that. The two exhausted teens were escorted back to the deputy’s patrol car and taken home. Theo handed his keys over to a helpful female officer who assured him his truck would be right behind them. Liam was a bit stand-offish as they sat in the back of the car but the older boy decided not to engage with him, perhaps it would make what he had to do easier.

They arrived back at the Geyer/Dunbar residence to find Liam’s parents standing by the door waiting with hot chocolate and worried expressions.

“Oh boys, thank heavens you’re safe,” Mrs Geyer gushed as she handed Theo the steaming mug. “I knew something was wrong, I just knew it. I know I’m overprotective sometimes, but I know you two are too responsible to not answer your phones. I called the sheriff and I demanded, _demanded_ , that they send someone out to check on you. Are you boys hurt? You’re covered in blood, but I guess that isn’t a sign I can really rely on. Come on, take off your shirts so I can see. Sweetheart, get your medical bag and examine the boys,” she rambled on as the two boys turned red. Deputy Parrish simply coughed timidly as the woman bustled around telling everyone what to do.

“You’ll have to forgive my wife,” Dr Geyer explained good-naturedly, “she means well but she has, um, boundary issues.” He laughed softly, “Don’t worry boys, you don’ have to get naked in front of the whole Sheriff’s Department. Why don’t you take your hot chocolate upstairs and get cleaned up while we talk to the deputy. You should probably have a lie-down too. I’ll come check on you both in a bit.”

Theo took advantage of the momentary respite from Mrs Geyer’s fussing, as she turned to argue to with her husband, and fled to the upstairs bathroom to clean up. Liam didn’t follow, and he was relieved to get some time to himself. Although the drive home had been quiet, the boy’s presence was like a smouldering volcano threatening to go off at any moment and the chimera couldn’t focus on what he needed to.

Once he was back in his room, he heard the beta in the bathroom cleaning himself up. Clearly the young wolf had been listening and waiting; he wanted to avoid Theo too it seemed. Or at least that’s what the older boy thought – up until the werewolf came bursting into his room in fresh clothing,

“What the hell happened out there Raeken?” the angry boy demanded, and the use of Theo’s last name was never a good sign. “I know you said it wasn’t the time or place, but I know you were lying, or holding something back. I could smell it on you, but as you said, that wasn’t the time or place for us to argue about it.”

Theo was surprised, not that Liam was angry, but that he was being so direct about such a touchy subject. The younger boy normally would have punched him by now rather than asking sensitive questions. “Liam I… I don’t think we should be talking about this now,” he tried to evade, but those pale blue eyes seemed ready to ignite like ice-cold fire, so he reconsidered his approach. “Okay, you’re right. I wasn’t being totally honest. But to be fair, a lot of shit went down today and I need time to think,” he explained as calmly as he could.

“Think? About what?” the beta pressed aggressively. “Now that we’re not about to die, do you suddenly not like me?”

“It’s not that Liam. I just… I don’t know okay? Too much happened and too fast; I need time to process,” the chimera tried to reason, but trying to reason with an angry Liam was like trying to smother a blazing fire with a gasoline-soaked blanket.

“I don’t understand Theo,” the shorter boy wailed, “did I do something wrong?” And the look in his eyes was almost enough to break the older boy. He almost explained why he had pulled back, what the bite would have meant; but he knew that Liam wouldn’t understand, he would see it as a rejection – and it was one, just not for the reasons he thought. But he also knew the beta would try to make it work, to convince him that he was good enough to be with him forever. He was too young and too good to be tying himself to someone… something like Theo forever.

The chimera steadied his heart. This had to be done carefully or the werewolf would stop him. “No Liam, it’s my fault, okay? You know… how I am. I need time to deal with this change; it’s all so new to me. Please, just be patient with me,” he pleaded, hoping his eyes looked sincere.

The beta seemed about to say something but he bit his tongue. His heart was beating fast and Theo could tell he was angry, but he was doing his best to be good for the older boy. Again, the chimera’s stolen heart lurched in his chest; this boy was so good, so amazing and kind – even when his own heart was breaking, he wanted to do anything he could to make the person he cared for feel better. That revelation caused the older boy to steel his heart. This was necessary.

“Okay,” Liam said at last, “but can we talk about this more tomorrow?” His eyes were a bit wet, but still filled with a foolish hope that things could work out the way he wanted them to. But Theo knew he hadn’t been designed to make people happy – he had been designed to kill, and his newfound immunity to wolf’s bane made him that much more dangerous to anyone who sought to hurt his pup.

“Tomorrow… yes, we can talk tomorrow,” the chimera lied, his eyes sincere and his heartbeat steady. Only a cold-hearted killer could look into that angelic face and speak such devilish untruths, at least that’s what he told himself. He was breaking the trust Liam had placed in him so unconditionally, and he deserved to die for than alone. And maybe, this time, he would.

The werewolf stood for a moment watching the older boy, as though he didn’t believe him. But then he smiled that soft, gorgeous smile of his and walked to the door. “All right, we should both get some sleep then I guess. Sleep well Theo,” he murmured, before quietly closing the door and heading downstairs to talk to his parents.

**The next morning…**

There was a knock on the chimera’s door. “Theo, you up?” came the loud, excited voice of the beta. “My mom made pancakes! You better hurry if you want some,” he laughed.

But he was greeted only with silence. A few moments passed and the young man tried again, “Theo? You okay in there?” His voice was more uncertain now, a little shaky. The door rattled a bit as the werewolf knocked harder. “Theo…” he breathed, already knowing he wasn’t going to get an answer.

The door creaked open as Liam took a few unsteady step into the room. Theo wasn’t there. His stuff wasn’t there. His truck wasn’t there either, now that the beta looked out at the driveway from the window. The older boy would have had to push it down the street before starting it so as not to wake anyone.

The young beta trembled as he moved over to the unslept-in bed. The scent lingering in the air was faint. The chimera must have left almost immediately after Liam fell asleep for his smell to have faded so fast. He picked up the pillow, his pillow, which now smelled only of the older boy. He pressed it to his face and took a deep breath, holding it in as long as he could, until his chest was on fire and his head became fuzzy.

And then he howled, louder than he ever had before, and the very bedrock of Beacon Hills trembled as the anguished sound of a heartbroken wolf resonated through the town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for the continued support from everyone, and the extremely lovely comments. This chapter took me a bit longer than usual because of all the stuff I had to cram into it, as well as the newer elements I decided to experiment with. As you may have noticed, I find the scenting trope pretty interesting but I decided to add a new trope too. It might not have been as explicit as it could have been in the story, but for anyone who's confused, check the new tag :)


	12. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It has been over a month since Theo left, and Liam is having control issues. Despite his efforts to pull away from his friends, help comes from the last person he expected to see walk through his door.
> 
> Meanwhile, Theo isn't as off the grid as everyone thought...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BAM!! Here it is lol. This chapter isn't as action packed as the last, but I hope it is just as enjoyable!

“Hello?”

“Scott... hey.”

“Mason? How are you man?”

“I’m okay... No… actually no, I’m not okay.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Liam. He… he’s… I just don’t know what to do…”

“Calm down Mason. Tell me what’s going on. You know I’ll do anything I can to help.”

**A few days later**

It had been over a month since Theo left. The first full moon had come almost two weeks after that night, and the next one was looming on the horizon – glowing brighter each night like a countdown to a nuclear explosion.

Liam had survived the first moon – Mason had needed to chain him up in his parents’ basement, but he had survived. But now, he had been getting angrier every day. He had pushed Mason and Corey away because he was scared he would hurt them. He spent most of his time locked in his room and barely spoke to his parents. And every time Scott called, he hung up, then gave some lame excuse when his alpha texted to ask if he was okay. He didn’t do even that much for Malia or Stiles, and eventually they stopped trying.

Nothing felt like it mattered anymore. School was over for the year and he was alone – with no alpha, no pack, no friends… and no Theo. He knew his control was slipping, he knew he needed help, but he was too ashamed to admit to anyone that what he really needed was his anchor. He needed Theo.

But he hated Theo. That selfish, heartless bastard who so easily just packed up and left in the middle of the night without a word – with no explanation or even a note. When the beta had tried to call him to see if he was at least okay, he discovered the chimera’s phone had been disconnected. The young wolf needed a new cell after that, since his was scattered across the room after it collided with the wall at Mach speed.

No, he didn’t need Theo; he could do this on his own. The pack didn’t need to know what had transpired between him and the older boy. If he could just get his control back before the new school year started, nobody would be the wiser. But control had never been Liam’s strong suit. What really annoyed him, though, was that this was nothing like when Hayden left. Sure it had hurt, and he was depressed about it for weeks, but he never got angry. Maybe it was because he understood why she did it, maybe it was because he let his friends help him, or maybe it was because she just didn’t mean as much to him as he had led himself to believe. Then what did Theo mean to him?

His mother had tried to comfort him after the chimera left. She tried to explain that he wasn’t the only one hurting and that maybe he should try to understand why the older boy had done what he did. But Liam couldn’t do that. He couldn’t bring himself to understand any universe where Theo wasn’t with him. That’s why nothing mattered anymore.

It felt like all the colour had been drained from his world. Where once he had been so full of energy and life, like an endless field of vibrant green grass, he now felt lifeless. Theo was always a bit of a dark cloud, but that cloud had brought the rain that doused his burning anger and allowed him to feel just as much passion, but in a better way. Now that idyllic meadow was brown and dry, just waiting to go up in the flames of his ever-present rage. And nothing could ignite that inferno like that one word, that one name: Theo.

The chimera had never seemed bothered by the moon, and the werewolf wished he could have the older boy’s level of control – the kind of control that came from not feeling anything at all. He hated the asshole even more because he knew that he wasn’t suffering like this. It wasn’t fair that Theo could be so ice cold and Liam had no choice but to burn in that flashfire.

But the beta’s attempts to cut everyone and everything out of his life so that he could try not to feel were rendered moot when there was an unwelcome knock on his door.

“I’m not hungry mom,” he answered, assuming she was calling him down for dinner since it was that time of the evening. He tried to be civil, but he couldn’t keep the annoyance out of his voice, he just wanted to be left alone.

“Um… it’s Scott,” came the warm but slightly uncertain reply.

Liam didn’t move. He just lay on his bed, wishing it would swallow him up and suffocate him, so that he wouldn’t have to deal with lying to the older boy. He couldn’t let the kind-hearted werewolf know what was driving him insane. Theo had tried to kill him – hell he had even succeeded briefly, and it was only through some inexplicable miracle that the alpha was still alive. The young beta honestly considered diving out of his second-storey window, rather than risk Scott finding out that he had feelings for the guy that had killed him.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the door creaked open before the younger werewolf could make a decision on the matter. The tanned taller boy entered with a sheepish smile on his face, and Liam couldn’t help the feeling that swelled up inside him. He wanted his alpha to take him in his arms and tell him that everything was going to be all right, like he had at the well the first time Liam thought his life was truly ending. He felt a little bit like that now, like he was drowning in his own emotions and no matter how hard he tried to claw his way out, he couldn’t do it without someone reaching down to help him escape the quagmire.

“Hey,” the soft-spoken older boy greeted as he walked tentatively towards the beta’s bed. “I’ve really missed you Liam.”

The young wolf felt his eyes beginning to get wet, but he clenched his teeth, which made his reply sound angrier than he meant it to: “What are you doing here Scott?”

But his alpha didn’t seem offended by the seemingly harsh reception. He just kept smiling that dorky, lop-sided smile of his. “I haven’t been a good friend to you Liam,” he began, and the beta had to stop his jaw from dropping. How could the sweetest guy he had ever known be saying something so stupid? “I’ve known for a while that things weren’t right with you – I could feel it and I could see it in your texts. But I was so caught up in getting my own life sorted out at college that I didn’t give you the attention you needed.”

“Scott, it’s not your responsibility to drop everything and come running whenever I get a little upset,” the blue-eyed youngster tried to reassure. “I… I’m okay, really. I… I’ve just been… a little down is all,” his voice shook. He was trying so hard not to let his alpha see his pain or, more importantly, the reason he was depressed.

“Because Theo left,” Scott said without any hint of it being a question. His voice was level and his brown eyes compassionate. Liam didn’t trust himself to respond; he knew that the older boy was paying far too close attention to him for a lie to go undetected. But he knew he had to say something to divert attention away from his feelings for the chimera.

“Everyone left,” he said slowly, as though testing to see if his heart was going to give him away when he was equivocating. “Theo, you, Stiles, Malia, Lydia… the whole pack is gone,” he said with a bit more certainty when his heart didn’t stutter.

“You still have Mason and Corey,” the taller boy offered, “but you’ve been pushing them away haven’t you?”

Liam cringed. “I… it’s not their responsibility to look after me 24/7. They have their own lives too, and I don’t wanna be the third wheel all the time,” he argued, trying as much to convince himself as his alpha. “I’m sure when school starts again that everything will be fine and go back to normal.”

“There are a few full moons before then Liam. How do you plan on dealing with them without your friends to help you?” the alpha asked; it should have felt like an attack on him, but all the beta could sense from Scott was genuine concern.

The angry young werewolf had no answer to that. He couldn’t lie to his pack leader’s face, so instead he just looked down at his hands – his claws.

“I brought someone with me to see you… maybe help you with regaining a bit more control,” the older boy said warmly.

“I don’t think Malia’s idea of control is quite what I need Scott,” Liam began, but he was left speechless when he heard the familiar female voice.

“Hey Liam,” Hayden said cautiously as she peered around the doorframe.

“Hayden…” the beta breathed, not sure how he was supposed to react to this bombshell. Did Scott really think that his ex-girlfriend was going to help calm him down? Well of course he did; she had been the younger boy’s anchor the last time anyone checked. Maybe they all thought she might still have some sort of sway over him. But instead of helping him feel more in control, the situation was only making him angrier. How could they think that Theo could be replaced so easily? And he had to remind himself that they didn’t know what the chimera meant to him – that he was Liam’s one true anchor – but he couldn’t keep the sharp edge out of his voice. “Why are you here?” he growled.

“I came to help Liam,” she said a bit annoyed at first, but she recovered her composure. “I know you’re probably still mad at me, and I get that. But I still care about you and, if I can, I want to help you.”

“There’s nothing you can do for me,” the beta said as he turned his face away from the concerned pair. “There’s nothing anyone can do,” he added to himself in a whisper.

“Nobody is expecting you to have the same feelings for Hayden that you once did Liam; that would be unreasonable. But she was your anchor and you trusted her more than anyone. If you can’t tell me or Mason what is really bothering you, then I was hoping that maybe you could open up to her?” Scott tried to diffuse the tension.

Liam almost scoffed aloud. He was supposed to tell the girl he once loved that he was losing control because the new guy – yes _guy_ – he was in love with had abandoned him? Oh yeah, and that guy was the same one who had manipulated them, helped kidnap and torture her and then forced her to fight her friends as part of his pack. That was a conversation bound to end well, especially considering her temper was only marginally better than his own.

“I… I don’t think that’s a good idea…” the short boy stuttered, his heart starting to race at the thought of how she would react if she knew he had replaced her with a conniving murderer.

Hayden and Scott looked at each other knowingly for a moment before looking back at the now panicking young beta. “Liam… no matter what has happened, you can tell us anything. We won’t judge you or make you feel bad. All we want is to see you happy,” the true alpha mollified his first beta.

“I can’t…” Liam whimpered, eyes now misted over completely. He couldn’t let them know; they would hate him. They hadn’t completely abandoned him yet, even after he had pulled away, but this would be the final nail in the coffin.

“Try us,” the dark-haired girl pressed as she settled beside her former boyfriend, a hand gently rubbing his trembling back.

“Please don’t make me,” the beta whined as he looked up at his alpha through his tears.

Scott just smiled at him reassuringly. That unwavering compassion had changed Liam’s life in so many ways, more so even than the bite he had received from that same mouth. “I think this is something you need to say out loud Liam. You can try to hide things from us but you shouldn’t deny them to yourself,” he advised, sounding almost Deaton-ish.

“You know don’t you…?” the short boy breathed raggedly. “You know about me… and Theo…” he continued quietly. He turned to look at the girl beside him, expecting to see her face contort with disgust, but her features remained serene and her eyes seemed to be encouraging him to continue. “How?”

“I saw you in the rear-view mirror,” the alpha chuckled. “I thought there might be something happening between you two when you wouldn’t leave his side at the hospital, but when I saw him hug you… I knew he cared about you.”

“If he cared about me he wouldn’t have left!” Liam shouted suddenly, startling the other two. “I don’t care about him either. I fucking hate him!” he raged on.

The young girl next to him brought her hand up to his shoulder and squeezed. “I don’t think you believe that Liam,” she insisted gently.

He looked at her, seeing only a blurry haze through his tears. “I… Fuck! I want to hate him so bad,” he sobbed as she took him into her arms. “I don’t want to feel this way anymore…” he whimpered. She tried her best to soothe him with soft shushes and tenderly ran her hand through his short, unkempt hair.

Scott squatted down beside the bed and rested his hand on his beta’s knee. “It’s ok to be angry Liam; it’s even healthy sometimes. What isn’t healthy is bottling up all those emotions by pretending you aren’t feeling them. Caring for Theo isn’t wrong. I can’t say that I understand completely, and I know you are probably scared the others will be mad at you, but I have seen the way he looks at you, how he cares for you. That alone is enough for me to be willing to believe that maybe there is more to him that only you’ve been able to see,” the older boy reassured his friend.

“If he cared… why’d he leave me?” the young wolf managed to get out between sobs.

“Did you think that maybe he left because he cares?” Scott inquired as though he already knew the answer.

“I… I don’t understand,” Liam said as he wiped his eyes and nose on his sweatshirt sleeve, feeling a little embarrassed to be a snotty mess in front of his alpha and ex-girlfriend.

“Well, would you be willing to tell us what happened on the day he left?” his alpha probed carefully, his voice filled with patience and compassion.

“I… guess… I could do that,” the beta said a little more confidently as he straightened himself up. They knew he liked Theo, and they didn’t hate him. He was so surprised and confused by this revelation that he kind of went into a daze. He started recounting the events of the camping trip and the run in with the hunters. Scott interrupted a few times with questions, but he mostly sat quietly with his hand on his beta’s knee, gently reassuring him whenever he faltered.

When Liam finally finished the story and clarified a few things that the older boy inquired about, his alpha focused on one specific event. “So when you two were kissing,” he began and the young wolf blushed furiously, too nervous to even dare looking at Hayden, “you said you were both fully shifted?”

“Um, yeah. Why, is that important?” the beta asked in confusion.

“Well that depends…” Scott explained, “You said you tried to bite him. Now was that just because you were horny?” and again Liam turned so red he thought he might pass out from the sudden shift in his blood flow. “Or did you do it because you felt compelled to?” the alpha finished.

“I don’t know,” Liam struggled to wrap his head around the question, not really understanding the difference.

“Think Liam. I wouldn’t be asking if this wasn’t important,” the older boy insisted firmly but gently.

The young werewolf focused on the memory, trying to recall exactly what he had experienced and thought when he finally got to feel Theo’s lips for the first time. The memory alone started to get him aroused, and if Hayden or Scott smelled it, they were considerate enough not to let it show.

“I think… I think it was more than just hormones,” the beta began as he tried to unravel the complexity of emotions and experiences he was going through. “I felt like it was something I needed to do. I can’t explain it,” he looked at his alpha with a hint of desperation.

“That makes sense,” Scott sighed. “And it explains why he freaked out.”

“What? Why?” Liam almost shouted. If there was a reason that the chimera had rejected him, he needed to know. He needed closure.

“It’s my own fault for not telling you about this,” the older boy admitted guiltily. “I don’t fully understand it myself; Deaton told me about it, but he said it was so rare that it would probably never be worth knowing,” he continued, and the beta was practically bristling with impatience.

“Just tell me Scott!” he demanded desperately.

“From what you told me, it sounds like you were trying to mate with him,” the tanned young man said a bit self-consciously, not looking his beta directly in the eye.

“Well we were pretty horny,” Liam grinned sheepishly, “I would imagine wanting to have sex would be normal.”

“No Liam, you don’t understand,” the alpha said in a voice that sounded far too much like the younger boy’s second grade teacher, who used to make him feel slower than the other kids. “Mating, in this sense, is not the same as sex. It is… a kind of bond between two people. Several supernatural creatures have to ability to do it, or so Deaton told me, but it is very rare for werewolves to do it. Even though we are pack animals, we aren’t always the most monogamous of creatures,” he explained and the beta was enraptured by the lecture. Hayden, too, was silently focusing on the information.

“A bond?” the younger boy breathed the question, and was surprised that he had actually said it out loud.

“Yes,” Scott replied. “As I said, it is extremely rare, so I only half listened to what Deaton told me and I didn’t think I’d ever need to tell anyone about it myself,” he explained his negligence with genuine remorse. “It is only possible between two people who are so in sync that their energies can be intertwined and amplified by each other. The fact that you felt compelled to bite him, that it was more than just a hormonal response, means that the bond was already starting to form and you wanted to complete it.”

“So, if it was already starting to form, does that mean he feels the same way about me as I do about him?” Liam interrupted a bit too eagerly, then looked away in embarrassment when he realised how he sounded.

“I can’t say for sure Liam. But I would imagine the answer is probably yes. And knowing Theo, it’s also probably the reason he stopped you,” the young alpha conjectured. “Liam, the mating bond is permanent – it can never be broken. If you had bitten him, you would have been promising to be with him forever, and he would have been expected to do the same for you.”

“So, what you’re saying is that he didn’t want to make that kind of commitment to me?” the beta asked dejectedly.

“I think that is the wrong assumption to make Liam. Based on what you told me, I think he didn’t want you to make that kind of commitment to him, because he thinks you are too good for him and you would regret it when you realised he doesn’t deserve you,” Scott reasoned solemnly.

Liam just stared at his alpha for a few moments before he exploded, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” He was furious, but it was not the kind of anger he had been experiencing before. He wanted to punch Theo for being such a self-absorbed jackass. How could ever think that he wasn’t good enough?

“Think about it Liam; Theo still hasn’t forgiven himself. And I guess the rest of us are partly to blame for that too because we haven’t been able to forgive him either. Only you have really seen this good side of him, the side that made you care for him despite the bad things he has done. I wish I could see it too, because I still remember the Theo I knew back in fourth grade and I miss that person,” Scott sighed sadly.

“He’s a good person Scott. I believe that without a doubt,” the beta added vehemently.

Hayden finally spoke up after having absorbed everything that had been said, “I don’t really understand all of this Liam, but there is one thing I know, and that is that you are the most amazing and kind-hearted guy I have ever met. You are truly a good person in every sense of the word, and I don’t think that you could form this special kind of bond with someone who was wasn’t good too.”

The young wolf beamed at the girl. “He is good Hayden. He can be so kind and caring. And funny,” the beta laughed as though remembering something hilarious the chimera had once told him. “But, he can also be really sad, like he’s always in a bit of pain. I wish you could see him the way I do,” he said in an almost distant-sounding tone.

“I would really like that,” the female werewolf smiled back.

“Me too,” Scott added enthusiastically. “So are you just gonna sit here moping? Or are you gonna go find that idiot and bring him back so we can all see the amazing Theo you are crazy about?” he asked with that adorable goofy grin of his, so full of love and support.

Liam launched himself off the bed and wrapped his arms around his alpha’s neck. The older boy put his arms around the beta’s back and squeezed him firmly as they embraced, as though conveying through touch all the things he didn’t have the words for. Letting the younger werewolf know that he would always have his trust and support, no matter what, even when he didn’t fully understand what the impulsive young man was going through.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you Scott,” the young wolf said softly, as he buried his face, now wet with fresh tears – tears of happiness – into his alpha’s shoulder.

“It’s Mason you should be saying that too,” the older boy admitted as he patted his beta’s back affectionately. “He called me and told me everything that was going on. He also confirmed what I suspected about you and Theo.”

“I thought… I didn’t know he knew,” Liam blushed.

“He’s your best friend Liam. Your happiness means everything to him, so of course he could see what was making you happy, and what was making you sad,” the alpha explained. He put his hands on the shorter boy’s shoulders and pushed him back a little so that he could look him in the eye, although the young wolf looked away, embarrassed by his haggard appearance and also the fact that he hadn’t allowed his best friend to support him in his time of need. “So what do you say? Are we bringing that arrogant jackass home?” the older boy smiled, showing his full-hearted support for his beta.

“I want to…” Liam said hesitantly, “but I have no idea where he is. He had his phone disconnected and it’s not like he left me a note saying where he was going.”

“Well I expected as much, so I called in some favours,” the tanned boy reassured. “You know how Derek is going around trying to build up a network of contacts in the werewolf community? Well he heard an interesting rumour and I thought it might be relevant,” he explained patiently as the younger boy thrummed with a newfound energy.

“Is it about Theo?” the beta asked impatiently.

“It could be, I don’t know…,” Scott went on, not wanting to get Liam’s hope’s up without proof. “He heard that hunters down in Mexico have been running into some trouble. Apparently there is a werewolf going around taking down their cells. Several of their facilities have been exposed and multiple weapon stockpiles destroyed. They say that this werewolf dresses all in black, hiding his face behind a motorcycle helmet with wolf ears on it,” he continued mysteriously as though he were telling a horror story around a camp fire. “They call him El Lobo Diablo, the demon wolf, because he always comes at night and no matter how many times they shoot him, he never goes down. It’s like he is immune to wolf’s bane,” he added as though he didn’t quite believe it himself.

“Theo is a chimera,” the beta whispered hopefully, “wolf’s bane doesn’t affect him as strongly as it affects us.”

“True, but from the stories, it seems this guy is reckless as hell. He charges in as though he has a death wish. Even Theo couldn’t survive that much wolf’s bane could he?” the alpha asked, as though Liam might have some deeper insight. “I honestly didn’t think it could possibly be Theo, until Derek told me the last part of the rumour.”

“What?!” Liam was practically hopping from foot to foot now.

“Apparently, when he attacks, this werewolf never kills anyone – although some of his victims end up in hospital for weeks – which at first made me think it was less likely to be Theo. But the really interesting part is that it isn’t always a man that attacks them… they say that, sometimes, it is a large black wolf,” Scott explained with an odd quirk to his lips, before adding, “and I only know of one person, besides Derek, who can turn into a black wolf.”

“It’s Theo,” Liam almost shouted. “It has to be!”

“It does seem that way,” the alpha reasoned. “What’s more convincing, though, it that the hunter cells this guy is targeting are all somehow connected to Monroe.” At the sound of the name, the beta growled angrily. The last time he heard it, he had been forced to watch Theo get hurt protecting him yet again. Scott reached out a hand and touched Liam’s forearm reassuringly, “I had Stiles pull some strings at the FBI and it seems that Monroe is somewhere in Mexico. She still has hunters operating in the US, but after the shit that went down here, she went into hiding down there.”

“So he’s hunting her down…” the younger boy breathed. “Those hunters were here for me… And now he is hunting her down,” he gasped, pausing for a moment before angrily adding, “That idiot!”

“I don’t know,” Hayden mused thoughtfully,” I think it’s kind of romantic.” Liam looked at her incredulously, “What? He is out there trying to make sure you’re safe. I don’t mean that I agree with what he is doing, but I understand why he is doing it,” she explained defensively, hands raised placatingly at the angry young man.

“He is out there risking his life, alone, like a moron,” the beta huffed in annoyance.

“All the more reason for us to go find him then,” Scott chimed in.

“Then why are we still here?” Liam asked impatiently.

“We’re waiting on you sparky,” Hayden laughed.

Liam’s mom took some convincing before she would let him out of the house so late, to go to Mexico of all places. But as soon as Theo’s name came up, and she saw that her son was finally excited about something rather than moping in his room, she relented.

As Liam climbed into Roscoe, he couldn’t quite figure out how he felt. He was still angry at Theo, he was grateful to Scott and Hayden, and he was relieved that he was finally doing something instead of just feeling sorry for himself, even if he wasn’t sure this was the right thing to do. All he did know was that he needed to talk to the chimera; he needed to know for certain if he felt the same way he did – like he couldn’t go one more second without seeing his stupid face.

“All right then,” Scott announced confidently, “let’s do this thing!”

**Meanwhile, somewhere south of the border…**

“Where is she?” the leather-clad figure looming over the bloodied body of the hunter demanded, emphasising each word with ominous ardour.

“I’m not going to talk, you monster!” the woman spat, blood spattering on the dark helmet visor.

The yellow eyes glowing behind that pane of black never wavered. “Oh you’ll do more than talk,” the voice predicted, and it was made only more terrifying by the fact that it was so soft and melodious. He reached out a hand, black claws peeking out from the leather gloves he wore.

As the claws dug into the woman’s thigh and she screamed in agony, the figure seemed to falter, his grip loosening. He shook his head as though trying to clear a dizzy haze.

There was a barely audible whisper, but the hunter was in too much pain to notice, “No… this isn’t right. This isn’t what he would do.” The demon wolf backed away from his prey, as though somehow scared of her even though she was helplessly bleeding and groaning on the floor amidst the unconscious bodies of her fellow hunters. He breathed one last word as he turned and fled the building, “Liam…”

The motorcycle rumbled to a stop on a cliff a few kilometres from the hideout he had just raided, duffels of cash and explosives strapped behind the seat. The tall muscular figure slowly stepped away from the bike and stood on the precipice looking down. _It would be so easy_ , he thought to himself, looking at the jagged rocks at the bottom of the rock face. _It’s not like they will ever be able to kill me, no matter how many chances I give them._

He slowly dragged his gaze away from the ground and looked up at the waxing moon. He reached up with still clawed hands and hesitantly removed the helmet on his head, spinning it in his grasp till the visor was facing him. He saw his reflection: glowing amber eyes – which should have been blue after all the sins he had committed – sharp fangs, long pointed ears, and thick tufts of hair running down his face.

He had grown so accustomed to this face now that he had begun to forget what he looked like before. But it was more than that, he had been becoming more like the beast he appeared to be night by night, as the full moon drew closer. He had shifted almost a month ago, at least he thought it was a month, it could have been longer. Time seemed to flow differently when you were always running on pure instinct. And now he could no longer shift back, and his control over every other part of himself was beginning to slip away too. He kept switching between this barely human form and that of the black wolf, and he wondered when that too would become permanent.

He sighed in a way that felt foreign to him now – too human. He lifted the helmet and slipped it back onto his head, hiding the features that had been locked on his face behind that dark plastic screen. Perhaps this is what he deserved after all, to slowly lose his humanity (what remained of it) and turn into the ruthless animal everyone thought he was. Everyone, that is, except for the young beta he had come out here to protect, to avenge…

“Liam…” he whispered again in that soft, beautiful voice that was the only reminder of what he used to be. He then threw his head back and released a bloodcurdling howl of anger and pain, and there was little in that sound that could pass for human anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My continued thanks to everyone who reads this drivel and sends me the absolutely lovely comments that I don't really deserve. I hope this chapter hits you the way it did me when I was writing it. I also felt the need to explain the whole mating bite trope since A) not everyone might be familiar with it, B) I wanted to put a little bit of my own spin on it, and C) Liam certainly needed to be clued in to understand why Theo is such a jerk :)
> 
> P.S. For anyone who doesn't know, and shame on you if that's the case lol, Roscoe is Scott's (Stiles') jeep :P
> 
> P.P.S. I know that El Lobo Diablo actually means the devil wolf, but that was just too corny lol. And the spanish word for demon is not catchy at all, so I took artistic licence. Sue me :p


	13. Coalescence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam, Scott and Hayden hunt down El Lobo Diablo in Mexico and find him in a nest of hunters. However, the hunters aren't the only fight the trio have on their hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand it's finally done *phew*  
> I really wanted to get a lot into this chapter and I hope I did it right. For a moment, I thought I should break it down into two chapters but I decided to just tough it out.  
> Really hope you guys enjoy this :)

The drive down to Mexico was a long one. The three werewolves spent the first portion of it catching up, Scott talking about college and visiting San Francisco with Malia, and Hayden about life in Bakersfield. But it wasn’t all that long before Liam was getting tired; he hadn’t had much energy since Theo left, and the emotional excitement of the day was catching up to him. The alpha suggested that he sit in the back of the jeep with Hayden so he could be more comfortable and maybe get some sleep.

The younger boy felt a bit annoyed at being babied, but it also felt kind of good having Scott trying to take care of him again, so he did as he was told. He and Hayden chatted quietly for a while but Liam’s breathing became slower and his blinks became longer as the night dragged on and the jeep hummed over the tarmac roads. Without even realising it, he nodded off.

His thoughts wandered the unlit backroads of his mind –the sound of the jeep’s engine and the tyres grinding on gravel, his guide.

_He dreamed of sitting in Theo’s truck, listening to music and stealing glances at the handsome chimera, who always kept such a serious expression on his face. But every so often, when he thought the beta wasn’t looking, the older boy would watch him from the corner of his eye and his lips would twitch into a smirk. But then the music changed, becoming a high-pitched metallic whine. Liam scrunched his eyes closed and covered his ears._

_Then he was on the field playing lacrosse, and Theo was watching him, that same enigmatic expression on his face. Eyes always on him, as though waiting for something. Liam would score a goal and the older boy would smirk a little, but he never cheered or got excited like anyone else would. And then the beta realised that there wasn’t anyone else watching; and suddenly the field was empty too. He spun around in a mild panic, looking for his friends and teammates. When he turned back to the bleachers, they were gone but Theo was right in front of him._

_That look was still in the chimera’s deep blue eyes, and Liam couldn’t look away. It was like the older boy was waiting for the werewolf to say something; but when he opened his mouth, the only sound that came out was, “Failure.” He didn’t understand what it meant, or why his own voice sounded so tinny and far away._

_Then they were in his room, lying on his bed and Theo was smiling at him, genuinely smiling, but his eyes never changed – that haunted look forever waiting for Liam to speak, as though his words could change something deep inside him. The beta wanted to speak but he didn’t trust his voice to say what he needed to, so instead, he pulled the older boy closer to him and kissed him. Soft lips met his own and the pressure felt so real; he pushed against them and they parted slightly, just enough for him to taste the chimera._

_It was impossible to tell how much time passed, but when he pulled back, Theo’s expression hadn’t changed, and the young wolf got annoyed that he could still look that way after he had finally had the guts to make a move. He opened his mouth to shout his frustration but all that came out was, “Failure.”_

_Liam’s anger blossomed and he closed his eyes in an attempt to calm himself; he didn’t want the chimera to see him like this._

_When he opened his eyes again, he was in the tunnels beneath Beacon Hills. Theo was standing several metres way, his face now shifted – fangs out and eyes glowing. But even with a different face, his expression remain unchanged. The werewolf didn’t know what to do. He wanted to scream out, “What do you want from me!?” but he knew what would happen if he opened his mouth. Even so, he couldn’t just turn away when the chimera looked like he needed him._

_Liam took a step towards the older boy, but there was sudden pressure in the air, as though it were push against him, holding him back. His frustration returned with renewed vigour, but it quickly changed into something else when the ground beneath his feet began to crack. He looked down in horror as the crack radiated out from his body, travelling towards Theo at a frightening speed. It looked familiar but he only realised what it was as it reached the older boy. He opened his mouth to warn Theo, but all that came out was, “Failure.”_

_The ground beneath the chimera’s feet crumbled away and hands grasped at his legs. Liam didn’t want to see this again – he had been almost sick to his stomach the first time it happened – but he was unable to look away. He wanted to scream but he wanted even more not to hear that horrible voice calling Theo a failure._

_The hands pulled the older boy down into the ground slowly, but the expression on his face never changed; he still had that soft, haunted smile on his face, and his eyes were patiently waiting. The beta could feel the tears run down his cheeks as he was forced to watch the chimera being taken away from him. He couldn’t comprehend how he didn’t feel this way the first time it happened. Had he truly believed that Theo deserved this?_

_But when the older boy was finally gone from view, those same hands that had pulled him down clawed at the ground and something else was crawling out. The figure was filthy, covered in blood and darkness. It twisted in ways a human body never should. Liam was only glad that there was no sound in this dark place, because he could already imagine the sound of bones cracking as the creature straightened up from that grotesque knot of limbs._

_It was looking at him now; even though he couldn’t see its eyes, he could feel them on himself. He opened his mouth to scream before he remembered that he was unable to in this place; but to his surprise, the words actually came out this time, “What do you want?!”_

_The monstrous form simply stood there, glaring at him almost accusingly. Then it slowly raised an arm, extending it towards the young werewolf. He wanted to flinch away but he was frozen in place. Black sludge dripped from the thing’s finger as it pointed at him, and this time the voice that wasn’t his own emanated from this hideous abomination, “Failure!”_

_And suddenly Liam realised that he hadn’t been calling Theo a failure, he had been talking about himself. The blackened blood on the figure’s face oozed and dripped off its chin as it melted away, and the younger boy could only gasp when he was left staring at his own face looking at him with deadened eyes._

_The silence was then broken by a horrible scream, “Help me!” It was Theo’s voice, screaming like he had when Kira had sent him to hell and he had begged Scott to save him. But the alpha had simply stood there watching… They all had. “Help me please!” the voice echoed again, louder and all around him. Liam closed his eyes and grasped the sides of his head trying to shut it out, but it seemed to pierce through the darkness and travel straight into his mind._

_“Help me! Please Liam, help me!”_

The werewolf awoke up with a cry, his eyes snapping open with fear and revulsion. His confusion was only worsened by the glare of sunlight pouring through the jeep’s windows into his dilated pupils.

“Hey, what wrong?” a concerned voice asked from beside him. As his eyes managed to filter the bright light down to a manageable level, the figure of Hayden became clearer. “You were mumbling in your sleep and started tossing around,” she explained, thinking his confused expression was directed at her.

“What? Oh, nothing, it’s fine. I guess I must have had a bad dream or something,” Liam deflected.

“What was it about?” she pressed on, seemingly oblivious to his discomfort.

“I… I don’t remember,” he lied, hoping that the fact that his body was still recovering from the frightening nightmare would mask his deception. He looked around the jeep and realised that it was just the two of them. “Where’s Scott?” he changed the subject eagerly.

“Hmmm? He is inside, getting information,” she answered off-handedly, her eyes were still boring into him as though she were hoping to strike oil, but she didn’t push the matter any further. “We have a basic idea of where El Lobo Diablo has been operating, but we need a bit more up-to-date information. Scott said Argent arranged a meeting with some group called the Calaveras,” she added.

“What? We’re there already? What time it is?” the young beta fired out the string of questions in a panic. He didn’t like the idea of his alpha alone around unknown hunters.

“It’s two o’clock,” Hayden answered, smiling with her hand extended; in it was a packet containing some enchiladas, which smelled much better than the short teen was willing to admit. “You obviously needed more rest than we expected. You haven’t been sleeping well have you?” she inquired as she handed over the food.

“I guess so,” Liam admitted. “It’s kinda hard to sleep when you’re worried you might wake up somewhere in the woods covered in blood.”

“Isn’t that only really a risk during a full moon?” the former chimera asked, but she still seemed genuinely concerned.

“Normally, yes. But apparently, because I have anger issues, I don’t necessarily need a full moon to go on a rampage. Or so Deaton told Scott and me,” the beta huffed, annoyed that he had to admit he had less control than someone who had been a real werewolf for less than half the time he had.

“Well, it’s ok. You’re with Scott and me now; you should rest up so that you are ready for any trouble we might run into. We can’t really help Theo if we don’t make sure we help each other first,” she smiled warmly at him, her hand on his thigh. He remembered when that would have made him blush or get aroused, but now he couldn’t picture his former girlfriend in that way. In fact, he couldn’t picture anyone who wasn’t Theo in that way.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he replied, forcing a smile onto his lips. How was he supposed to relax when that sarcastic jackass was out there alone and there was a full moon tonight?

He finished off his breakfast, or perhaps it was lunch – waking up after noon always gave Liam a headache. He then sat fidgeting for a few minutes staring at the façade of the building Hayden had pointed to; it appeared to be a bar, but it was no doubt a money-laundering racket for the hunter clan. It didn’t take long for the short beta to lose his patience and find himself arguing with the bouncer to get inside.

“C’mon, just let me in! My friend is in there,” he tried to reason with the gargantuan Hispanic man. For someone with incredible supernatural strength, the werewolf still found the tattooed demi-giant intimidating.

“No can do hombrecito,” the hunter countered with a laugh, clearly thinking this baby-faced kid was out of his mind trying to get into the bar.

The beta growled in growing anger and the large man rested his hand on his hip holster. But before Liam could make an impetuous mistake, his voice chimed as he received a text, “Liam, calm down. I’m fine. Just wait in the car with Hayden, please.” Scott had somehow known he was getting angry; perhaps he had even heard the younger boy fighting with the bouncer.

It was another twenty minutes before the alpha strolled casually out of the viper’s nest. By this point, the younger werewolf was fuming. “What the hell were you thinking?” he exploded at the older boy as he approached the jeep.

“Chill Liam, what’s your problem?” Scott demanded.

“My problem?” the beta shouted incredulously. “You went into a building full of murderous hunters with absolutely no backup!”

“It’s fine; Argent called ahead and organised this meeting. He trusts the Calaveras… well as far he trusts anyone, I guess,” the alpha reasoned.

“Oh yeah, cos we’ve never been double-crossed by hunters before,” the shorter boy scoffed with genuine exasperation at his leader’s unreasonable trust.

“The older hunters have a code Liam. They wouldn’t attack us without reason,” Scott reassured his beta.

“We have a code too, don’t we?” Liam inquired in a haunted voice.

“Yeah,” the older boy replied a bit uncertainly.

“We don’t kill people,” the beta continued. “We do everything we can to save lives, to protect people.”

“Of course Liam,” Scott said with a gentle smile.

“And what’s to say that they won’t break their code?” the younger boy asked. And he added almost inaudibly, “We did…”

“What?” the tanned boy asked with a tinge of anxiety in his voice.

“We broke our code Scott. We didn’t save Theo; we didn’t try to help him. We just stood there while he was sent God knows where. He cried out for us to save him and we didn’t,” the boy lamented, his angry voice winding down to barely more than a whisper.

“Theo didn’t want our help back then Liam; all he cared about was power and he was willing to kill anyone who got in his way,” the alpha countered.

“And you’ve sent every killer you’ve come across to hell?” the beta spat back. Scott had no answer to that and could only stare at his beta with a helpless expression on his face. “Peter killed about a dozen people – more if you count the deaths during the dead pool – and you just let him walk around like it is no big deal. Gerard has probably murdered hundreds of innocent supernaturals, but you let him live, even if you incapacitated him for a while. And Deucalian? He murdered his whole pack and forced others to do the same, and you just let him go, hoping he would magically be a better person,” the younger boy fired off the list like mortar shells and his alpha’s face flinched with each round. “We never gave Theo a similar chance.”

“We never killed him Liam, we just…” the older boy tried to defend their decision, but Liam cut him off.

“No, we just sent him to some pit in the ground where he was tortured for who knows how long. You haven’t seen him when he has nightmares Scott. You haven’t smelled the sheer terror that pours off of him. What happened to him was worse than death!” the smaller werewolf raged on, his own feelings of failure fuelling his anger at his alpha. “For all we know, when we die of old age one day, he could’ve still been down there, suffering forever in a timeless hell. How can you say that that was the right thing to do?” By now, the beta was beginning to cry, his guilt overwhelming him.

Scott stared helplessly at his flustered pack mate, unsure how to respond. “I…,” he started but stopped, his sympathy for the younger boy causing his voice to catch in his throat. After a moment of thought, he began again, “Do you think I don’t hear his voice sometimes, calling out for me to help him? I don’t know if we did the right thing then Liam, but I know we can’t undo it. All we can do now is try to do better this time. We can still save him.” He reached out and put his hands on Liam’s shoulders, hoping to convey his conviction through touch.

The younger boy trembled a bit, but when he looked up, his eyes were fierce. “We have to!” he said with determination, “I won’t fail again.”

The alpha smiled reassuringly, “We will Liam. The Calaveras gave me some interesting info on what’s been going on, and I think I have a lead on where he might show up tonight.”

“What? Where? How do you know?” the beta fired out in rapid succession.

“Apparently, when El Lobo Diablo first appeared, he seemed to show up at random. There was no pattern to his attacks other than he was targeting Monroe’s faction, which is what made him so effective. But over the last week, it seems he has been becoming predictable, like he isn’t thinking things through,” Scott explained as calmly as he could. “The Calaveras say that a pattern has appeared and there’s a good chance he will show up at a suspected hunter gathering north of San Salvador. But the problem is that if they can predict where he is gonna be…”

“Then Monroe probably knows too,” Liam gasped. “We have to stop him Scott!”

“And we will Liam,” his alpha reassured. “But panicking or getting angry won’t help anyone. We need to head out if we are gonna get there in time.”

The two young men climbed into the jeep, where Hayden was sitting very quietly, pretending she hadn’t heard every word said. As Scott started the vehicle, Liam felt a hand resting on his shoulder. He didn’t turn around, but he lifted his own hand and rested it on the girl’s.

Roscoe wasn’t exactly the fastest thing in the world, so it took most of the rest of the day to get where they were going. It took everything Scott had to convince the impassioned young beta that they needed to stop for food, but he was only able to get him to agree to take-out from some dingy diner they passed along the way.

By the time they reached the location the Calavera’s had told them about, the sun was already low and the moon was slowly becoming visible through the orange haze. Liam was becoming progressively antsier, but he was doing everything he could to stay in control; he couldn’t afford to go berserk when Theo needed him.

Scott parked the jeep a safe distance from the hunter’s compound, which appeared to be an unmarked military facility.

“Are you sure this is the place?” the young beta asked nervously. The building seemed deserted, but they couldn’t risk getting closer just yet.

“It’s the right place,” the older boy replied, “but whether or not Theo, or whoever he is, shows up is another matter. All we can do is wait and hope.”

“Waiting isn’t exactly my specialty,” Liam growled through gritted teeth.

“Maybe you should take a moment to try to get a handle on your anger Liam,” Hayden suggested, but there was no condescension in her voice, only gentle concern. “The full moon is going to make this harder for all of us, and who knows what it might be doing to Theo. We should all prepare for what might go down.”

The short young man simply nodded and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. It was unfortunate that his anchor was also the primary cause of his current stress. He tried to focus on memories of Theo rather than simply thoughts of him. The way the handsome older boy would tease him with that cocky smirk on his face, or laugh richly when he kicked his ass at video games, the feeling of his arms around Liam or the way he looked at him with those beautiful glowing eyes before they finally kissed. He got lost in the memories and when he finally opened his eyes, the sun was gone.

The moon loomed ominously overhead as the three werewolves stood looking down on the darkened compound. It was then that a chilling howl cut through the night, tearing through the darkness like claws on black satin. Liam shifted automatically, as though those claws sank deep into him and dragged something primal out. Without thinking, he lifted his face to the sky and returned the call.

“Liam what are you doing?” Scott shouted as the roar echoed around them.

The young beta looked shocked for a moment before shaking his head, “I don’t know. I just… I couldn’t help it.” He forced his body to shift back, embarrassed that a simple howl had done to him what a full moon couldn’t.

“Well I guess we just lost the element of surprise,” Hayden huffed in annoyance, reminded how much trouble her impetuous ex could get her into. “No point holding back now,” she added as she climbed back into the jeep.

“Let’s go,” Scott barked as he hopped into the driver’s seat and started the vehicle.

“I’m sorry,” Liam bemoaned as he slumped into the passenger’s side.

“No point worrying about it now; we need to get down there before he makes a break for it,” the alpha asserted as the jeep barrelled down the dirt road towards the hunter hideout, which had suddenly come to life.

Floodlights illuminated the entire area and as the jeep approached, the trio of werewolves could see a black shape skulking on the roof. However, it dropped out of sight before they could determine whether it was human or wolf. Scott pulled up to the side of the building and turned to Hayden, “Stay here and keep the jeep running; I have a feeling we are gonna need to get out of here in a hurry.”

Before the female werewolf could respond, the two boys were already dashing from the vehicle. Gunfire reverberated through the concrete walls, punctuated by the occasional scream. The pair arrived at the reinforced steel doors leading into the facility and skidded to a halt. “So, any great ideas on getting in?” the shorter boy asked after tugging on the door handles ineffectually.

“Um…” the alpha began, but the thought was cut short as the doors burst open and several panic-stricken hunters scrambled out. They froze when they saw the two young men looking at them in surprise. They reached for their guns but when Liam’s eyes flashed in angry warning, the men yelped and turned tail screaming in Spanish as they ran – something about lobos demoníacos.

“Well that was… convenient,” the beta quipped in nervous amusement. He didn’t wait for Scott to lead the way, instead recklessly moving down the corridor towards the sound of gunfire. He was concerned by the fact that he hadn’t heard another roar from the demon wolf, and only hoped that the continued gunshots meant he was okay.

The presence of his alpha behind him gave Liam the sense of security to know he could charge ahead and things would somehow work out. The gunshots were getting louder now, hurting his ears that were straining to catch some sound that might be coming from Theo. And all he could smell was gunpowder and fear. His desperation to find the chimera grew and the possibility that the demon wolf might not be the person he needed to find didn’t even cross his mind.

The two werewolves arrived in a large storage room within the compound, filled with crates of what they assumed were weapons. It was there that they saw the figure in black, surrounded by the bloodied bodies of unconscious hunters. The leather-clad form turned to them and yellow rings shone through from beneath the black visor of his helmet.

“Is it him?” Scott asked as he readied his claws for the possibility that it might not be, or that this bloody-clawed individual might attack them either way.

Liam narrowed his eyes and focused on the demon wolf. While he may have imagined Theo wearing skin tight leather before, he didn’t know what the older boy would actually look like in it, so he couldn’t be certain. He took a step towards the figure but this was met with a growl of warning, so instead the beta scented the air, trying to separate the noxious odours of gunpowder and blood from that of the wolf-like creature before them.

“I don’t know. I…” the younger boy stammered. It felt as though he could smell something, but it was on the very edges of his senses, like trying to identify which glimmer belonged to a specific coin at the bottom of a wishing well. Thankfully, the physical exertion of taking down two dozen hunters coupled with wearing skin-tight black leather resulted in a lot of sweat, and that scent had a very specific effect on Liam. “It’s him,” the young wolf gasped as his pants felt a little tighter. “It’s him!” he repeated more confidently as he regained his composure.

“Theo, do you recognise us?” Scott asked in the same voice he used to try to calm his beta down during full moons. The only response he got was a growl. “Liam, I don’t think he knows who we are…” he added a bit anxiously.

The shorter boy was about to respond or try to get through to the chimera when he heard the sound of doors opening. Suddenly, the room was flooded with heartbeats as the sound-proofed barrier of the walling was broken. There were dozens upon dozens of hunters waiting in ambush. “Theo!” the panicked beta cried out, “It’s a trap!”

The chimera snarled and turned, whether it was because he understood what Liam had said or it was just an animal response to being cornered, the beta couldn’t tell. Before Scott or Liam could get to the other boy, bullets were weaving through the air and they were forced to take cover behind a pillar. A roar of pain drowned out the gunfire and the alpha had to pounce on his beta to prevent him from running over to the wounded chimera. “Liam, no! You’re no good to him if you get yourself killed,” he stressed as the smaller boy struggled beneath him.

“We have to do something,” Liam pleaded. He looked around, frantic for a solution, until his eyes fell on a crate on the shelf next to them – a crate of flashbangs.

Scott’s eyes follows the beta’s and he immediately responded, “No… no, no, no. You can’t be serious Liam.”

The younger boy didn’t even stop to think about it. He grabbed two and passed them to his alpha and grabbed another two for himself, already pulling the pins out with his teeth. As he spat them out, he said, “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t!”

Even though the two closed their eyes and covered their ears, they were still severely impaired by the debilitating explosions. But they managed to run into the confusion and grab Theo, who was barely able to stand after suffering the brunt of the grenades. The confused and angry shouts of the hunters faded as the trio stumbled towards the exit.

However, as they reach the large doors, the chimera wriggled free of their grasp. He lurched forward before turning around and suddenly launching himself into the air. He dropkicked the two werewolves in the chest, sending them tumbling to the floor. By the time they recovered, he was already gone.

“Scott, he’s running. We have to go after him,” Liam demanded. As they stepped out the doors, Hayden was already pulling up in the jeep, sliding over as Scott hopped into the driver’s seat.

“I just saw a motorbike go flying up the road,” she informed them as she buckled up, already expecting the high-speed chase.

“Do you still have his scent Liam?” the alpha groaned while still recovering from the surprise attack.

“Go that way!” the beta shouted as he climbed in the back of the jeep and opened the window to follow the scent. Scott pulled off just as a group of hunters stumbled out of the compound, firing at the vehicle. Luckily, they were still rather addled from the flashbangs and their shots were too wild to hit anything.

The beta gave directions as he hung out the window, feeling somewhat more like a dog than a werewolf. The scent was already fading, but he refused to fail when they were so close. He pushed his senses to the limit, taking full advantage of the full moon’s power boost to track the chimera. Scott, too, pushed the jeep to its limits as Liam shouted for him to go faster.

It was a frantic and wild chase to keep up, but it didn’t seem like Theo was trying too hard to lose them. Based on his behaviour, Liam assumed the chimera was acting on instinct due to the full moon. He was returning to where he felt safe. The beta just hoped they caught up with him soon; the pungent odour of blood had him worried that the older boy was going to pass out and crash the bike.

It was close to an hour later when the jeep pulled up outside a rundown, deserted roach motel. Liam was already climbing out the vehicle when Scott grabbed his arm. “Wait Liam. You saw how Theo acted back there; he isn’t himself. We need to be careful,” he warned the impulsive younger boy.

The beta wanted to argue, but he knew his alpha was right. “You’re right. Maybe I should go in alone, so we don’t spook him,” he suggested. The older boy looked concerned but he eventually nodded.

As Liam approached the dilapidated building, the smell of Theo grew stronger, but it was different than he remembered – more wolf than human. “Theo?” he called out tentatively, but there was no reply. “Theo, it’s me, Liam,” he tried again as he got closer to the structure. Again, there was no answer, but the air seemed to get heavier.

The hairs rising on the back of his neck were the only warning he got before a clawed hand swiped at where his head had been only seconds before. He heard Hayden and Scott shouting and running towards him. “No! Stay back!” he shouted out as he turned to face the chimera, still covered in leather and face hidden behind the helmet. “I need to do this alone,” he said, meaning to sound confident but his voice almost cracked when his eyes met their glowing counterparts behind the visor.

The other two werewolves slowed and eventually stopped, not too close, but close enough to intervene if things really got out of hand. Theo was circling Liam now, growling as he did. The beta knew then that the chimera was totally out of control and he would need to subdue him before he could talk to him. The older boy had beaten him when they competed at the preserve, but he couldn’t afford to lose this time.

“Theo I don’t want to hurt you, but you need to calm down. You need to realise I am here to help you,” Liam tried to reason, knowing it wouldn’t work. Theo stopped circling and regarded the smaller boy silently. For a moment, the beta thought maybe it had worked, but that hope was dashed when the chimera charged at him, leaping through the air with that frightening speed of his. The werewolf braced himself, and as the older boy’s claws were almost on him, he grabbed the extended arms, rolled backwards and launched the larger boy towards the wall of the building.

Theo struck the bricks with a painful crunch and his visor cracked. As he dragged himself up against the wall, he grabbed at the damaged helmet and tossed it aside. Liam almost gasped when he saw how the boy looked. He had always thought that Theo was beautiful when shifted, but now the chimera looked barely human at all. His fangs were dripping with saliva and his eyes seemed vacant of thought, driven by pure animal bloodlust.

“Theo please,” Liam begged, but before he could say more, the older boy was on him again, claws swiping at his vitals. The beta had no choice but fight for real. Normally, Theo would be an equal match if not his superior in a fight, but he wasn’t fighting smart right now. The werewolf was able to sidestep or deflect the strikes, which seems only to enrage the chimera more.

When the larger boy leapt towards him again, the beta was ready. He grabbed him just as Theo had grabbed him on the hilltop. He spun the chimera around and slammed him into wall with enough force to stun him. Liam’s face shifted as he roared in the stunned boy’s face, “THEO!!!”

The older teen stared at him as if in a trance, but his eyes stopped glowing after a few moments, although his face didn’t change. “Li… Liam?” he stammered out in confusion. “What… what are you doing… here?”

“I came to find you,” the young wolf said gently. “You need to calm down Theo. You need to get control.”

The older boy still looked confused, but he just nodded slowly as though happy at being told what to do. He closed his eyes and tried to even out his ragged breathing. He winced as he took deep breaths, his wounds seeping with each inhalation. Slowly, his ears shrank and morphed back into the cute small ears the beta found so adorable. Then his fangs receded behind his blood-specked lips. Eventually the hair on the chimera’s face receded, leaving only a thin layer of stubble, which Liam had to admit was sexy as hell. When Theo opened his eyes again, they were the deep ocean blue that the young wolf had been craving to see for weeks.

A little uncertainly, Liam backed away from the muscular young man, looking him over to make sure he wasn’t bleeding too profusely. Seemingly satisfied that Theo wasn’t about to die, the beta gave him a piercing stare. “Why did you leave Theo?” he demanded, his voice so far from its usual shy or light-hearted tone that even he had to do a double-take to make sure it came from himself.

The chimera averted those gorgeous eyes to look anywhere but at the beta. But when he realised that Liam wasn’t going to back down until he had an answer, Theo said, “I… I needed to deal with Monroe. She was never going to leave you alone.”

“Why Theo? Why did you do it alone? I thought we were friends. I thought we were…” the young wolf trailed off a bit uncertainly.

“I didn’t want you to get hurt and nobody cares if I die. I thought if I could just do this one thing for you… I don’t know,” the older boy asserted as though he wasn’t saying something completely idiot.

“I care about you, you jackass!” Liam shouted at him. And he was a bit hurt when he saw the look that came over the chimera’s eyes, as though he didn’t believe him. “Theo… why do you try so hard to protect me? What do I mean to you?” he asked angrily.

Theo averted his gaze and kept dead silent, as if hoping that if he didn’t answer, the werewolf would get bored and change the subject.

“What do I mean to you?” Liam pressed, his pulse rising and his nostrils flaring.

“You… You’re my friend,” Theo answered, although it sounded more like a question.

“Bullshit. Friends don’t run off leaving each other wondering what they did wrong or if the other is even alive. What do I mean to you?” beta demanded again, clearly not happy with the transparent lie.

The older boy sighed. “Liam please,” he begged but there was no mercy in the werewolf’s eyes. Dark blue eyes stared into pale blue as the wind blew past, sucking any further excuses or lies out of the chimera’s mouth and carrying them away. “You’re…” and now Theo audibly gulped as Liam’s eyes pinned him to the wall. “Liam I…” he tried again but faltered. Eventually, he closed his eyes and took a steadying breath. Without opening them, he said in a voice as slow and steady as he could manage, although it cracked horribly, “I… I love you Liam, okay? I love you…”

Liam stared at the face of the chimera in front of him, eyes closed and lips trembling. He thought he would be happy to hear Theo say those words, but he was angry. And after a silence that stretched out awkwardly, the older boy hesitantly opened his eyes. And that’s when the beta punched him. He could feel the cartilage in the larger boy’s nose crack under his knuckles as his head reeled back and expletives poured from his bloodstained mouth.

“What the fuck?!” Theo shouted as he braced himself against the wall with one hand, the other pressed to his already mending nose.

“That’s my line!” Liam shouted back. “How the hell can you say you love me when you just left me without a word? You kissed me and then you left! You could have been dead for all I knew. Now you tell me that you love me? What the fuck Theo?” His rage was almost palpable at this point and his eyes were flickering yellow on and off.

The chimera didn’t seem to know how to respond. He just stared at Liam astonished, and suddenly all the beta could smell was pain and regret. “I just wanted to protect you Liam. From Monroe… and from me,” he answered at last, his voice expressing utter defeat.

“Why would I need protection from you Theo?” the smaller werewolf barked back in annoyance.

“Because I’m not good for you Liam!” Theo shouted, for once showing real anger and passion. “All I know is how to kill, it’s what I was made for. And to make me that way, everything good inside me had to be destroyed. How can someone as broken as me ever be with someone as perfect as you?” His voice broke as he finished and he slumped against the wall, covering his eyes as tears streaked down his face.

The beta’s anger subsided, but only slightly. How could Theo think he wasn’t good, after everything he had done? The older boy’s stubborn stupidity was driving him crazy. “Theo,” he began, trying to keep his voice calm even though he wanted to slap some sense into the incredible fool, “I am not perfect. I was perfectly happy before I met you; that is true. But since you left, I have been broken too.”

The chimera wiped at his tears ineffectually with his leather jacket. Liam smiled at how adorable he looked and lifted the sleeve of his hoodie to the taller boy’s slightly puffy eyes. He dabbed at the wetness. “I am broken because you took a piece of me with you when you left,” he continued as he wiped away the tears from the gorgeous boy’s cheeks. “And I can’t be whole again without it,” he explained as he cleaned the blood from Theo’s nose and lips.

“I don’t understand,” the chimera whimpered as he looked at Liam with his beautiful, unmarred face.

“You keep saying you don’t have a heart Theo, but you’re wrong,” the beta continued as he reached down and took hold of the young man’s trembling hand. He lifted it and pressed it to his own chest and said, “You have mine. It’s not much, but I’m happy to share it with you, for as long as you’ll let me.”

“Liam, I’m not,” Theo began to argue, but his voice lacked conviction, as though the steady beat of Liam’s honest heart beneath his hand was draining any resistance he could muster.

“And I know you are good Theo. I know it without any doubt at all,” Liam declared, and his heart never wavered in the slightest.

The older boy stared at him with eyes wide. Nobody could lie that well, not even him. “How… How can you be so certain?” he stammered, pressing his hand more firmly against the younger boy’s chest as though hoping he would catch him in a lie.

“I know Theo… because I know that I couldn’t fall in love with someone who wasn’t good,” he replied gently as he reached up and cupped the chimera’s face in both hands. “And I love you…” he whispered as he closed the distance between them, pressing against Theo’s unresisting lips. The hand on his chest tensed as though Theo might push him away, but instead he grabbed Liam’s shirt and pulled him closer, until their bodies were pressed together.

Although the beta pressed up hard against the chimera’s body, the kiss was tender. His tongue gently probed at the older boy’s lips until he parted them and let Liam taste him. Theo sucked hungrily on the beta’s tongue in return, as though he had been starving for the past six weeks, and the young wolf almost chuckled at the appreciative rumble that emanated from the chimera’s muscular chest.

Theo’s hands dropped to Liam’s waist, one resting on the small of his back and the other caressing his ass as the older boy lifted him up to kiss him more deeply. Now it was the werewolf’s turn to groan as his arm snaked around the chimera’s neck and his hand fell to his waist. He couldn’t help but grind into the firm body beneath him as he devoured the mouth that was finally being offered to him freely.

Primal passion was consuming him, but Liam knew he had to resist the temptation to bite down on Theo’s neck. As much as he wanted it with every fibre of his being, he wanted the older boy to stay with him more. He forced himself to pull back and look into those azure eyes that finally showed unrestrained desire. “Theo,” he breathed hotly, “promise me… swear to me… that you won’t leave again.”

The older boy’s stare was intense enough to burn through steel. “I’ll do you one better,” he said in a way that others might construe as cocky, but Liam knew him well enough to realise he was being earnest. He watched as Theo’s face shifted again, this time revealing the strikingly handsome face that always stunned the young werewolf. The chimera’s glowing eyes locked on the beta’s unshifted blue ones as he added a little more uncertainly, “If you still want to…”

Liam didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t trust himself to. Was Theo offering what he thought he was? Was it what the young wolf really wanted? Was it too soon to make that kind of a promise? It felt as though a million questions writhed in his mind like a bed of worms pulled into the light when soil is upturned. But the truth is that he reached the decision within a single heartbeat.

The werewolf’s face shifted completely – his amber eyes, pointed ears, fangs and facial hair mirroring the chimera’s. Theo went for his throat immediately, but Liam wasn’t about to give it up so easily after the older boy had given him so much trouble. The beta pressed his face up against the hybrid’s, cheeks rubbing together as they took in each other’s scents. But each time Theo’s face dipped towards his neck, Liam lowered his chin to prevent access.

After the third attempt, the chimera let out an annoyed huff and the little wolf couldn’t stop himself from giggling. That was when a clawed hand grabbed his chin firmly, but careful not to actually hurt him, and turned Liam’s head upwards and to the right. Before the beta even had a chance to react, he felt the hot tongue on his neck, lapping at the smooth skin along the crook of his neck. He let out a whimper of desire, which transformed into a gasp as he felt the sharp teeth pierce the skin.

He had expected it to hurt but all he felt was pleasure. It radiated through his body and his mind became hazy as though he was getting high on something. “Theo,” he breathed heavily as the older boy pulled his body closer and sank his fang in deeper. Contrary to all reason, that only made the pleasure more intense; it just felt so right. He actually felt a bit annoyed when the chimera finally pulled back and looked at him, blood dripping from his fangs.

The image should have disturbed him, but all Liam could think was that he wanted more, that he needed to sink his fangs into Theo in the same way. And unlike the smug werewolf, the older boy didn’t make him work for it. He lifted his chin and exposed that most vulnerable part of any animal. The younger boy didn’t hesitate; he surged forward and sank his fangs into almost the exact same spot where he could still feel the blood trickling down his neck.

Theo moaned in the most delightfully sinful way, and if he was feeling anything close to what Liam had, the beta had no intention of cutting it short. He slowly retracted then extended his fangs over and over again, eliciting strangled groans from the larger boy who clawed at the beta’s shoulders and back in desperate need for more. The werewolf flicked his tongue over that sensitive flesh as rivulets of blood trickled down his mate’s neck until the chimera was begging, “Please Liam… I can’t!”

With a cruel chuckle the younger boy finally pulled back and admired his handiwork. To his surprised, the wound was already healing, flesh knitting closed with beyond supernatural speed. He reached to his own neck and felt that it, too, had healed completely. He looked up at Theo with surprise. “How is that possible?” he breathed.

The chimera smirked that arrogant, gorgeous smirk of his, “When two werewolves bond on this level, it makes them stronger. Their senses are heightened, they heal faster and their strength is enhanced. To be honest, I didn’t think it would be possible since I am not a true werewolf.”

Liam reached out and touched his mate’s neck, wiping away the blood to reveal that the bite was gone, leaving only four small dark marks that looked almost more like a tattoo than a scar. Theo leaned forward and rubbed his bite over the beta’s and the young wolf gasped as electricity surged through his body when the marks collided. He thought that sensation alone would make him climax, until the chimera stopped the movement just as the marks aligned.

The werewolf whimpered and dug his claws into the older boy’s arms as fire enveloped his body. All he wanted in that moment was to be consumed by it and turned to ash. Theo held him in place and he could feel the larger boy’s excitement pressing against his abs. “You are mine now,” the chimera whispered in a voice that only a few months ago might have terrified the beta. Now it only made him feel utterly safe and complete. He was Theo’s… and Theo was his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, this is always where I intended to end the story. I think it is pretty complete (I had never planned to have a true sex scene - sorry to anyone who was hoping for one lol). But I have kinda been toying with the idea of maybe a "happily ever after" kinda chapter, perhaps a first date kinda thing, Dunno if I wanna go through with it though :/ let me know what you thought of this conclusion and maybe we'll see. If anyone is disappointed with this ending, I am really sorry (can't please everyone), but I do hope that it feels good to most of you. Thanks to everyone who stuck with my story all the way. Loved the comments and the support you all gave me - I honestly never would have finished without the encouragement. Love you all <3


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